


Breaking Point Classic

by shadows59



Series: Little Moments [3]
Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, First Love, Only the Original Series Counts, Romance, kissing cousins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-18
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-23 20:17:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 48,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18156554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadows59/pseuds/shadows59
Summary: Sequel to Little Moments. Ben and Gwen explore their new relationship and try to adjust to a normal life even as enemies old and new hunt for them. Original 2012 version





	1. Chapter 1: New Normals

Spoilers: Up to Secrets of the Omnitrix.

Disclaimer: Ben 10 is owned by Man of Action and Cartoon Network.

Notes: There is no Ken Tennyson. Gwen is an only child just like she is in every single episode except one. And I don't know why he is in that one.

Chapter 1: New Normals

August, 2000

The park was crowded even for a Saturday afternoon as everyone celebrated the last weekend of summer vacation. Kids were running around everywhere, laughing and screaming while the parents sat on the grass having picnics or walked around.

Not a single person paid any real attention to Ben as he slipped by, and he didn't think of them as anything more than a moving distraction. He'd learned a long time ago how to move through a crowd without being noticed when there was heroing going on. He might be retired, watch off and everything, but that didn't mean that all of his mad skills went away.

Which was good, because he'd need all of them to catch the girl he was following. He'd spotted her five minutes ago as she skulked around the tennis courts and had chased her ever since. He saw her tense up like she always did right before she checked out what was happening behind her, and he turned and pretended to join the Frisbee game that was going on next to him. When he turned back around a moment later she was moving again.

He followed as fast as he could. He could have run after her, no one in the park would notice one more kid running, but she would hear him and that would be bad.

Mega bad. He knew just how dangerous the girl was.

So he hurried, but he didn't run. He had closed half of the distance between them when she stopped to get a drink of water from the water fountain. She pushed her hair back as if she didn't want to get it wet, but he knew she was checking the area around her.

She was good.

He didn't turn, he didn't have to. He just stepped into the mob around the ice cream vendor. There were so many people pressed together that she wouldn't be able to recognize him even if she looked right at him. After she took the world's longest drink, she started walking again towards the grove of trees and he smiled just a little. He'd almost caught her there a few minutes ago. He would have if she hadn't decided to join a group of joggers who were circling the park.

Now he had a second chance.

She slowed down just a little as she looked over the grove, including the bush he'd hidden in before. So he ignored the trees and walked through the grass instead. There were a group of people flying kites and he hoped if she glanced up she'd think he was heading that way. She didn't, and finally they were only twenty feet apart. He eyed her and knew that if he ran now he could...

Get his butt handed to him because she had freaky good hearing. He looked at the trees that she was poking at and didn't even try to fight his grin. He bent down and made it look like he was tying his shoe even as he scooped up a rock that was about the size of his thumb. She shook her head and he knew she was just about to turn back to the trail when he threw the pebble over her head and into the bushes. The pebble barely made a sound when it hit the leaves, but she jumped back and settled on to the balls of her feet in a fighting stance.

She was good.

Today, he was better.

In the few seconds she spent looking, he hurried across the last few feet of grass that separated them. She heard him at the last second and tried to spin around with her fists up, but she was too slow. His fingers were already running down her sides.

"Stop it, you Doofus!" Gwen said with a squeal as she tried to hop away from him.

"Say I win!" Ben demanded as he followed after her and kept his fingers moving. He almost remembered their tickle fights from back when they were babies, but he'd forgotten just how much fun they were. He didn't know how he could have, not as he watched her face turn red as she batted at his hands, but he'd been making up for lost time over the last few weeks.

"Not on your-" she tried to say when his fingers slid up to just under her arms. He knew a couple of seconds there and she'd be rolling on the ground, and so did she. "You win!" Gwen said before he could even wiggle his fingers. He thought about doing it anyway, but he let his hands drop. She tried so hard to look mad when she spun around the face him, but no matter how much she fought to hide her grin she couldn't. Not from him anyway. It faded just a little when she glanced around and saw a few people staring at them. She let out a hiss of breath as she grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the grove of trees. Their blanket was still waiting there for them there and they stopped just on the edge of it. The moment they were out of sight she turned around and put her hands on her hips as she made a show of rolling her eyes. "I suppose you want your reward?"

"Unless you want to go all Dweeb and back out."

"Maybe I do. What are you going to do about it?"

"I'll make you carry your stuff home." It was a lame threat. The only thing that they brought to the park was a blanket to sit on, a bottle of sunscreen because she insisted and some money to buy food if they got hungry. It wasn't anything she couldn't carry a couple of blocks.

"Well, can't have that." And then she leaned in and put her arms around his shoulders. She always acted so confident, but he could see the split second of doubt in her eyes as if she thought he'd shove her away. And he could feel his heart pound harder in his chest at her touch as his hands went to her waist. He felt them shake just a little. They'd never done that in any of his fights, but somehow touching her was...

His face still heated up when they kissed, even though they had done it easily a few dozen times by now. The voice in the back of his head that was still ten said gross when their lips touched. That voice was only a whisper these days. The part that grumbled about having to stand on his tiptoes just a little to reach her was a lot louder. It was completely unfair that she was still taller than him.

The rest of him just enjoyed it. Enjoyed her.

And so did she, or at least he assumed she did from her smile when they pulled apart.

"Do," he started to say when his voice cracked. He felt his cheeks burn at the horrible high-pitched noise. It was bad enough when it happened at home and he was sure he'd never live it down if it happened at school, but in front of his Dweeb? He closed his eyes and waited for the jokes to start, the put downs. He could think of a dozen, and he knew she knew more.

"So cute," she whispered instead as she kissed him on the cheek.

That word was worse than any joke. If anyone ever heard her say he was cute... The whole Hero to Heroes thing would be done, he knew that, and every bit of street cred he had would be gone. Cute. She thought he was cute. He shivered. "Do you want to play tag again?" Their version of it anyway. The kind that only karate masters and ex-superheros could play.

She shook her head and sniffed. "No. I'll let you pretend that you won today."

"Because I did win," he said as he moved his hands up from her hips to her ribs in a threat.

"Fine, because you won. For today, anyway," she said with a roll of her eyes. He grinned and let his hands slip back down. She took him by the right hand his hand and pulled him down to their blanket. It was up against the trunk of a big oak tree. They sat down with their backs against it and the bark only scratched a little. She let go of his hand and hugged her knees while his arm went around her shoulder. "School's starting next week."

"I know. Nine hours of nap time here I come."

He waited for her to hit him, or at least lecture him about how important school was. As if. Instead she stared down at her lap and said in a very small voice, "I don't want to go."

Ben's heart started pounding. She'd never said that anything like that before. He was sure that there was way too much nerd in her to ever even think those words. He felt his heart pound as he stared at her and he wondered if her hair looked a little longer than it should. At least he didn't see any freckles this time. He still didn't know why those aliens thought she'd have freckles all the sudden when they- "What... what was the name you wanted to give to Furface?"

She sat up and gave him a confused look. "Fleabag."

"And what was the first thing I did when I got the watch?"

"You set a forest on fire. Why?" she asked. Then her eyes lit up with understanding. Understanding followed by annoyance as she swatted his leg. "I'm not a robot, Doofus. I just don't want to go to school."

"Please. You love school so much that you'd marry it if you could."

"It would be a better boyfriend anyway," she said as she swatted him again. Then she leaned over and put her head on his shoulder. "A few hours on Fridays won't be enough."

"What?"

"At least during the summer I got to see you every few days. Once school starts I'll only be able to see you for a few hours on Fridays and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I need more."

Ben had spent the last month trying very hard not to think about that. Now that he had to, he hugged her a little closer. "We can still talk."

"More than we do now? How?" Gwen said. It was true. It took them two months to start talking again after Vilgax's attack. Two months that he'd wasted thinking that she hated him for getting her hurt; two months she'd wasted thinking he hated her for letting him down. They'd been trying to make up for it ever since. If he hadn't made some adjustments to their phones while he was still a hero, they could have worked until they were a hundred and never make enough money to pay the cell bills.

"We'll figure something out." Ben lifted his left arm and looked at his wrist. There was still a patch of pale skin there, like a ghost of the Omnitrix. If he still had it on...

She saw where he was looking and covered the spot with her hand. He shivered just a little. He still wasn't used to anything touching him where the alien device had been for so long. "No."

"But..."

"No. Not just - It isn't worth it."

"Is too."

Her hand went from his wrist to his fingers and she squeezed down. "You don't have to put it on again just because I've gone crazy enough to miss you."

"I'm not going to do it for you. Ego, much?"

She shook her head, and her long red hair tickled at his nose. "You know that if you ever put it on again, normal is gone."

It annoyed him, just a bit, when she said things like that. "Normal isn't that great." His life didn't get good until normal went away. Normal was just school and parents and... Normal meant that they'd still be fighting, probably. That he'd still think that she was just a know-it-all girl and that he was just a jerk.

"Do you miss the watch that much?"

He sat and blinked a few times. "I still reach for it sometimes." And he was still surprised when he felt bare skin instead of the alien device.

"But do you miss it?"

"Some of it. I still dream about my adoring public," he said with a smirk and she shook her head. "But..." Most of the time he just dreamed about he cameras and the cheers and helping people. Then the cheers turned to screams as Vilgax appeared. "Not the fighting," he said in a low whisper. He blinked to try to force the alien monster out of his head.

And he saw the Rust Bucket go up in flames as Vilgax made him watch. Made him watch Gwen and Grandpa...

He saw the monster being torn apart by diamonds that glowed in the fire and he tried to breathe, but - She was gone, and he knew it was all his fault.

"Ben? Ben, I'm right here!" He heard the words, but they didn't seem real. He'd heard them so many times in his nightmares and when he opened his eyes he was all alone. He closed his eyes tighter just in case they were a lie again. At least then he'd still have-

Then he felt her fingers slip between his. They were a little rough. They always were after all the karate, no matter how much moisturizer she used. She said it was worth it if that was the price for breaking boards. He liked it because it gave him so many things to mock her for, or at least it used to. Now it was the one thing about her that his dreams never got right. "Ben, I'm right here. It's okay. You can feel my hands, right? Just focus on my hands. I'm not going to let you go again. I swear I won't."

He forced himself to open his eyes and finally sucked in some air when he saw her. He never even felt her move, but now she was kneeling in front of him with her face just inches away from his. Her eyes glistened with tears as she squeezed down so hard that his hands ached. Her voice broke with a whispered, "I won't."

"I know," he said even though he didn't remember her letting go to begin with. Neither said another word for a long time and when they finally pulled apart their hands immediately found each other again. She wiped her eyes with her free hand while he brushed pollen away from his. He didn't look at her again, not right away. Instead his eyes went to the trees around them and he laughed just a little even as he shivered. "This spot is cursed. I should have figured it out after you taught me MATH here."

"That must have been a REAL nightmare," Gwen said as she shook her head and rubbed at her eyes again. "You LEARNING things. The horror."

"You have no idea," Ben said as he glanced down at their joined hands. It was two years ago, but he remembered the whole night. Her freaking out over a little bruise, and the hour she spent with him as she tried to make math make sense. He kept waiting for her to give up like his math teacher did. She didn't. She looked ready to strangle him a few times and he would have taken off if it wasn't for the whole unfair cheating charge hanging over his head, but they kept going. When it finally started to sink in Gwen's whole face lit up with pride and she squeezed his hand. She'd only held on for a second, but... "It should be. It so should be..." He shook his head as he remembered her smile. "Fractions. You teaching me FRACTIONS is a good memory. If I didn't know you were a witch already..."

"That's not magic," Gwen said as she turned and he saw that grin again. "I'm just a miracle worker."

"If you were a miracle worker, I would've gotten a 100 on that test," Ben said and he smirked at the mock glare she gave him. They both faded just a bit as he admitted, "I don't miss the fighting, but there were cool things. Like the flying. And being able to bug you when I wanted." He paused and looked away. "And I liked feeling like there was something that made me special."

He knew that she wouldn't understand that. How could she? He was always the normal one. The one that no one really expected anything from, while she was the star of the family. He heard about how great she was until he couldn't take it anymore, until he couldn't stand to look at her. He didn't even want to be in the same room with her, but even back then there was always a part of him that wished he could do something to impress her.

And he did when he had the watch. Then she was the one who had to pay attention to him. If he hadn't found the watch, would she have ever... ?

"Yeah, the watch is the only reason thing that makes you-" She saw something on his face that made her blink. She sounded hurt when she said, "You think it was the watch, don't you? That it's the only reason that we're..."

He looked away. "No."

"You are such a Doofus," Gwen muttered. "It wasn't the watch that made me... It wasn't the watch that made you brave enough to risk your life for strangers. It wasn't the watch that made you be there for me when I needed you, or that made you stay no matter how often I acted like I didn't. It wasn't the watch that made you my hero. That made me lo-" she blushed and looked away. "That made me like-like you."

Ben couldn't help blushing, too.

"Was it the magic that made you...?"

"No."

"Then what was it? Was it just because I'm pretty?"

"You are?"

She smirked a little because she knew better. He had told her so months ago, back when this was still a kind of game between them. Back before they decided it wasn't. "Is it my personality?"

"What personality?" He asked. He was only teasing, but this time she winced and he knew he went too far. If he stayed quiet, this would blow over. She knew it was a joke, she had to know. If he stayed quiet he wouldn't have to talk about feelings any more. The ten-year-old in him was getting over the whole kissing-being-gross, but feelings would always be sick. But he remembered the nightmare moments when he thought he lost her, and all the stuff he wished he had told her. If it ever happened again he couldn't regret that twice. He had to look down as he said the words, because if he looked at her he would never be able to say them.

So he took a deep breath and let it all spill out in a rush. "You are the only one who ever looked at me and saw someone worth anything. No matter how obnoxious you might have gotten about it, you were the only one who never gave up, who never let me give up. You make me want to be better, and that's so annoying. You make me want to do it. Not just because I wanted you to be proud of me, but because I want to be what you saw. I know you will always have my back, even when I turn into the biggest jerk on the planet."

"You aren't going to turn into Ben 10,000," Gwen said. "I won't let you."

Ben shrugged at that. He wanted to believe her, but...but he kept hearing his older self say, 'The last time I saw Vilgax, I tore him to pieces,' and he did just that three months ago.

Gwen went on, she must not have noticed his attention wander. "-it wasn't just me. Grandpa was there, too."

"Grandpa pushed a little, to keep me safe. You... you followed me into fights when all you had was some martial arts just to watch my back, and you think I'm a hero? You can get so annoying, but you are never boring. I can talk to you and..." He stopped. "And I think I'm hooked on your lip gloss. That might be some kind of spell, though."

Gwen blinked fast. "What was that? I wasn't paying attention."

Ben shook his head. "Too bad. I'm never saying it again."

"Never?" She asked, and she kissed him. They'd kissed quite a bit by now. Most of them were playful, like it was still a game. Their first was so quick that he only realized what he'd done when it was over. Their second had been just a need to know that she was alive and had felt so desperate that he didn't like to think about it. It just too much...

This one, though. This one made him wonder if this was what kisses were supposed to feel like. It was the first one that didn't feel like a game. It wasn't the first one he didn't want to end, but it was the first time he ever felt disappointed when it did.

"I've always been proud of you, Ben. And I'm proud to be with you, which is why..." Gwen reached up and brushed her hand over his cheek and then her face crumpled and she hid it in his chest. "I hate this. I hate feeling like this is something we have to hide."

Ben shrugged. It bugged him a little, but they had to hide so much of their lives over the years that it felt normal. "It's no different from the heroing."

"It's completely different. I want people to know that my Doofus of a cousin has used some kind of evil mind ray to make me like-like him."

"I didn't need a mind ray for that," Ben scoffed. "I'm just so awesome that you didn't have a chance."

Gwen let out a laugh and pushed away from him. "You aren't that awesome."

"I am even more awesome than that."

"So not."

"Are too."

"Prove it."

"When has Gwen Tennyson ever settled for anything but the best?"

Gwen opened her mouth to argue, but he knew he'd won. She rolled her eyes and he just smirked back. A win was a win and she knew it. Finally she shifted over and laid down. She used his leg as a pillow as she looked out over the park. "I just want to tell my parents. For the last month, I've just wanted to tell them."

"We could." Ben said, but he winced when he thought of the fight that would follow. His mom was iffy. It depended on her mood, she might be thrilled or she might lose it. And his Dad, his dad kept watching the two of them when Gwen came over now. Like he knew something.

If he did, though, he never said anything.

Gwen shook her head and sounded so sad that he kissed the top of her head when she said, "My mom would freak. So would my Dad. We could probably tell them we were superheroes right after that and they wouldn't even care about us risking our lives. They have my whole life planned out for me. They never even asked... You're the only person who ever asked what I wanted."

"I did?" Ben teased even as he looked up to the sky. He couldn't see any stars now, but he knew that they were out there. That one day the two of them would go and see them. "Doesn't sound like me. What was it? I forgot."

"No, you didn't," she said. "I just wish I could tell someone. I just want one person to know, to be happy for us. Because I am."

"Grandpa knows." Ben said, but Gwen shrugged.

"He doesn't count. He's Grandpa."

She didn't say anything else, but he had a bad feeling. He knew her. She wouldn't have brought this up unless she had someone in mind. "Who?"

"I wanna tell Michelle. She kind of figured it out already, but I want to tell her."

Ben groaned at the mention of the black-haired girl. "Not her. She's always giving me the evil eye."

"She is not. Trust me on that. Please? She's my friend."

Ben closed his eyes, but in the end he said, "Fine."

It only took the girl twenty minutes to get there after Gwen called. Ben and Gwen passed the time talking about school, which classes Ben planned to sleep through and which Gwen was looking forward to, but it was just nervous blabber and they both knew it. When Michelle got there, Gwen jumped to her feet and ran over to hug her.

Michelle hugged her back, but something was wrong. Ben had only seen the girl a few times over the last few months. Usually she was all attitude. She talked back to Gwen, and no one but him did that. Today... today she just looked small. As if she was trying to shrink into herself. The whole time she hugged Gwen, she had her eyes on Ben. Something about the look made Ben nervous. Not Vilgax level nervous, more like Charmcaster nervous.

"Michelle," Gwen began as took her friend by the hand and pulled her over to stand in front of Ben. Gwen was grinning ear to ear. Michelle wasn't. "You've met Ben, but I wanted to tell you. He's my... boyfriend now." The word caught in her throat for just a second. They had never used the words before now, but she beamed when she finished.

Ben grinned back at her as he let himself think of her as his girlfriend. It was a nice word, but he still preferred to think of her as his Dweeb. That word just covered everything about her. He stood up and gave Michelle a nervous, "Hi."

Michelle crossed her arms and looked at Ben. She smiled for a split second, but the look washed away as she wrapped her arms around her stomach. She looked like she wanted to scream, or was going to be sick. Ben took a step back, just in case.

"I kind of figured this happened when my Crazy came back last month," Michelle said. Her tone was just as mixed up as her expression. "When you actually remembered how to smile."

Gwen blinked and seemed hurt. "I thought... I thought that you would be happy. You helped me pick out the make up. It was a disaster, but that wasn't..."

Michelle nodded. "I was. I did." She stopped then and glanced between Ben and Gwen. Then her shoulders slumped and her voice broke. "I'm glad he's here for smooch time now, but where was he the first two months you were back?"

Ben flinched and backed up. He was at home, too terrified to talk to Gwen because every time he saw her, all he could think of was how badly she'd gotten hurt because of him. "I..."

"NO!" Michelle shouted as she marched up to Ben. "No! I've never seen her like that. She was hurt, she was hurt so bad and you never called. You act like her boyfriend now, but where were you then?" Her face broke and tears ran from her eyes as she looked at Gwen. "I'm sorry, Crazy. I know you like him, and that he was hurt in the wreck, too, but he didn't even try to talk to you. He's supposedly your boyfriend, your family, and he didn't care."

Ben wanted to say something. He knew he screwed up. He did. He'd tried to make up for it ever since, but...

"She's right," Gwen said as she nodded to herself. She looked at Ben and wiped her eyes. "She's right, Ben."

"I..."

Gwen walked up to him and hugged him so hard it hurt. "I"m so sorry. She's right, I should have called. I knew that you were hurt. It didn't matter how mad I thought you were, I should have called."

"I tried," Ben said into her shoulder. He spent so many nights staring at his phone. "I swear I did."

"I know, Doofus," Gwen said. "I did, too. Next time, no matter what?"

"No matter what, Dweeb."

Gwen pulled away from the hug and Ben looked away. "And as for you," Gwen said as she turned on her friend.

"I was just..." Michelle blinked and held up her hands. The anger was gone, and all that was left was the stomach turning fear that had hidden under it. She'd expected their friendship to end over this, Ben knew that just by looking at her. She expected it the whole walk over, but she said it anyway because she thought she had to protect her friend. "I... Crazy, I'm sorry. I was just... he should have called. I was so scared for you and he..."

"You're sorry?" Gwen asked as she marched up and poked her in the shoulder. "You better be. The next time you see me doing something stupid, you tell me. You're the sane one in all of this remember?"

"You're not mad?" Michelle asked, and the last bit of her control broke as Gwen hugged her.

"Very. Your sense of timing sucks," Gwen said as she held the crying girl close. "and no one yells at my Ben but me."

Michelle nodded and hiccupped when she pulled away.

"Ben, are you?" Gwen asked, and there was some doubt in her eyes, and a lot of worry in Michelle's.

Ben never liked the girl, and he realized right then that if he threw a big enough fit, he would never have to see her or her evil eye again. If he made Gwen choose right now, she would choose him and Michelle would be gone. It would be so easy. He knew it. Michelle knew it. Even Gwen knew it. Gwen would never forgive him, but she would do it.

One word.

"You were there for my Dweeb?" Ben asked, and Michelle nodded and Gwen gave him a small smile. "Thank you."

Michelle blinked and looked down at the ground. "I-I didn't do it for you."

"I know." Ben stood there and scratched at the back of his head. It seemed like he should do something more, but... Well, if Michelle was a guy this would be so much easier. He knew what he'd do if one of his friends did something for him. Or Gw-. No, not like Gwen. Like his friends. He reached up and gave her a soft punch to the arm. "Thanks anyway."

"Boys," Gwen said with a shake of her head.

Michelle sucked in a breath and she looked up at him with bloodshot eyes. "Was... When you were, was there...?"

Tom and the guys came over a few times during the two months after Phoenix. They played games and they were thrilled by the stories he made up about what he saw. Not a single one asked if he was okay. He didn't really expect them to. It wasn't how things worked. "No, but I was fine."

For some reason, that word made Michelle jump like he'd slapped her before she pulled him into a hug. Ben looked over her shoulder at Gwen, who mouthed 'later' at him. "I'm sorry, Ben." Michelle said as she pulled away with a little squeak. She took a few steps back and looked at Ben and Gwen again. This time, she managed a small smile. "Why don't you tell me a bit about your new boyfriend, Crazy? If you still want to?"

Gwen nodded before she could finish the question and the three sat down on the blanket. "You have to understand, he's been a pain in the butt since he stole my birthday."

"You stole it. I was born first."

"Was not."

"Was."


	2. Chapter 2: Inevitable

Authors notes: I want to thank Hapcelion for beta reading this. If there are any more mistakes they are all mine. I also want to thank him for setting up a tropes page for Little Moments. The link is in my profile. It looks awesome, go check it out.

Also, I've had a few people talk to me about fan art for this story. Sadly, I can't draw at all. One day I hope to master stick figures. If anyone else would like to draw anything, just let me know and I'll be more than happy to add links.

Chapter 2: Inevitable

October, 2000

Ben hated waiting.

He hated it, but he still spent most of his life doing it. Waiting for the last bell to ring, for summer to start, or just for something interesting to happen. And now he got to wait for his Dweeb to get done with Karate.

Waiting was bad enough when he didn't have a choice, but he did.

He knew he didn't have to sit here. That all he had to do was get out of the car and go inside. He stared at the dojo and started tapping his fingers against the armrest. Soccer was okay. Dad still went on about how proud he was that Ben made goalie. The team thing was nice, and it was way better than his try at baseball, but it wasn't the same. He stood there and watched most of the time while everyone else had fun.

That was one thing he never had to worry about in the dojo. He missed breaking boards with his hands. It had been so awesome the first time he did it, and stayed that way right up until the last. Karate was harder, but so much more fun.

And it had Gwen.

"If you really want, you can go back, Ben," His father said as he twisted himself around in his seat to look back. Ben jumped just a little and stared. "Soccer ends in November. We could make it a Christmas present."

"How...?"

His father reached back and ruffled his hair until Ben shoved his hand away. "You sit there and stare at the building every time we come to pick up your cousin. And I know you still practice some."

Ben looked at the building. He still didn't want to fight, but it wasn't like karate was really fighting. He told himself that every Friday and it was starting to make sense. Maybe by Christmas he would believe it. "You won't mind?"

"I won't, but your coach might when he finds out that he lost his best goalie. Why don't you go see what the Sensei has to say?" Ben grinned at the compliment as he reached for the handle. His father turned back around in his seat. "Have fun. If I'm asleep when you two come out just poke me with a stick."

Ben nodded even though he'd stopped listening after his father said 'I won't' and was out of the car almost before his father finished talking. He raced across the parking lot and through the dojo door moments later. It was the smell that stopped him. The air conditioner did the best it could, but it didn't stand a chance after a couple of hours of practice and the room smelled just a little like a pair of sweat socks.

He recognized everyone in the room and he just wanted to kick off his shoes and join in. It only took a moment to spot the Sensei as he moved between the paired up kids and watched them spar. He corrected here and there with just a word, and occasionally the corners of his mouth went up when someone did something impressive.

Earning that smile from him was the second best part of the class...

Getting it from Gwen was even better.

It only took a second to spot her. She was paired up with Mark, who was doing the best he could. Actually, he was almost holding his own. That never happened. Gwen was still winning, but she was moving wrong. Her punches were sloppy and she was barely kicking at all. So not Gwen. Her feet were dangerous things and she knew it.

Ben never did get a chance to beat her...

Sensei moved up to them and watched. Usually he just gave Gwen that little smile and moved on, but this time he stood there and scowled. That was the second worst thing about the class. Even worse than the bruises. Bruises went away after a while, but that scowl stuck around.

Gwen saw it and her face went red as she tried to do a spin kick, but Sensei held up his hand and said, "Enough." Everyone in the class stopped even if they were in the middle of a kick or a punch and turned to bow to him. They were all blue belts, if they hadn't stopped they would have gotten a scowl. "Spend the remaining time on the scoring bags. Stay paired up and watch each other. If anyone's strikes go outside of the circle I want to know." The class bowed again and hurried over to the sand bags hanging on the far side of the dojo. "Not you Gwendolyn. Mark, team up with Mary and John."

Mark went running. He wasn't quick, but he wasn't stupid either.

"I'm okay," Gwen said, but she was pale and sweat covered her face. She wrapped her right arm around her middle and Ben could see her wince even from ten feet away.

"You are not," Sensei said. He softened his voice a little, but it still carried across the room to Ben. "You over-train, Gwendolyn. I've told you this before."

Gwen shook her head. "I just pulled something. I'll be fine in a minute."

"No. Your body is still developing and you're pushing it too far. It needs a chance to rest and heal. You're done for tonight, and you are not to practice again until I see you next Wednesday. If I think you did, I will call your parents and share my concerns."

"No, Sensei," Gwen said with just a hint of panic. "They'll take me out of the class."

"Better you stop than suffer serious injuries," he put his hand on her shoulder. "Rest for a couple of days. I promise you that your skills won't decay in so short a time. Besides, I believe your ride is waiting."

"Sensei?" Gwen looked behind her and seemed shocked to see Ben standing there. She managed to blush and look pale at the same time."I'll be right there, Doofus," she said as she tried to smile at him. The smile faded in another wince as she walked over to the lockers.

The man walked over to Ben, shaking his head at the childish nickname. He always did. He was cool, but he was still old. "Benjamin, I was hoping to see you again one day. If I could have a word."

"Yes, Sensei." Ben said and bowed out of respect. It was hard not to respect a man who could punch through a stack of wood boards in one blow.

"I wanted to make sure that Gwendolyn has passed on my invitation to rejoin us."

"Yeah." He said as he nodded. He tried to make himself say that he wanted to come back, but he couldn't. Not yet.

"Good." The corners of the man's mouth went up as he said that. Then his face darkened. "I know a little about why you left. Your cousin has told me some of what happened in Phoenix, and what you both saw on that terrible day. She told me some, but I know there is a great deal left unspoken."

Ben swallowed hard as he tried to remember what or who they told. Everyone got the same basic story that Grandpa had put together, but the stories kept growing so much that he couldn't keep track of them all.

"Don't worry. I won't pry, but I want you to know that I will listen if you ever wish to talk. Even if you don't rejoin us, I will make time to listen. You are still my student."

"Thank you, Sensei." Ben said and bowed again just so he wouldn't have to look the man in the eye. When he straightened back up the man was grinning. It was so weird-looking that Ben stared.

"But until then, congratulations for your success on the soccer team. I recognized several of your moves in the last game."

"You watched it?"

"My daughter goes to your school and she tapes the games for me. With your defense we might win Regional this year."

"You better believe it."

The man looked over Ben's shoulder. Ben turned and saw Gwen watching them as she stood next to the lockers with her gym bag over her shoulder. She looked even paler now and she kept blinking. He lowered his voice again, and this time Ben knew it wouldn't carry. "Keep an eye on her, Benjamin. I'm worried that I wasn't as diligent as I should have been today. She may have injured herself already."

"I will. Thank you, Sensei." With that the man walked back over to the class and Gwen hurried over.

She should have looked mad at being sent home early. She wasn't. She wasn't happy, but she wasn't glaring either. She just looked tired. "I'm fine," Gwen said as soon as she walked up to Ben. She said it with the tone that meant that she'd been saying it all day and if she heard it again someone would pay.

"Then why are you holding your stomach?"

"Because your mom is cooking tonight."

"It can't make you sick until after you eat it. I thought a nerd like you would know that. How long?"

Gwen looked away. "Since this morning." She closed her eyes for a second and he saw her grip tighten on her gym bag.

Ben looked at her and said the last thing he ever thought he would. "Maybe we should skip tonight."

"No!" she said in a panic as she reached out and took his arm. "No. I'll be okay. I can feel bad tomorrow. I've waited all week to hang out."

Ben stared at her. He'd waited, too, and not just to find out what flavor of lip gloss she was wearing today. But if she was sick... "Only if you-"

"Trust me. You'll be the second to know." And that settled that.

At least until they got back to the car. They barely got into the backseat when Dad turned around and the hello died on his lips. Instead he stared at Gwen as she very purposely kept her eyes on the gym bag in her lap. It didn't help. "Are you feeling okay? Do you want me to -" And that was as far as he got.

"I'm fine! I'm fine! Will everyone please just stop asking me?" Gwen almost screamed before she buried her face in her hands. Ben sat there frozen as he listened to her take deep breaths. She stayed like that for a long time until she squeaked out, "I'm sorry, Uncle Carl."

"Its okay, Gwen." Dad glanced at Ben as if he had a clue. "So, what are the plans for tonight?"

"I borrowed some new games. I figured I'd humiliate her a bit more with my awesome skills," Ben said as he stared at Gwen. It used to take him days to wind her up to this point when they were ten. Not minutes. The old him would be cackling like a mad man right now with this kind of power. Now all he wanted to do was strangle the little jerk because she looked that miserable. He thought about giving her a hug, or even taking her hand. Not that he could, not with Dad watching.

"Do you have any movies?" Gwen asked, and her voice shook just a little.

"No, I thought that you wanted to..."

"You can borrow one of mine," Dad said. "There should be one or two left that you guys haven't seen yet. Maybe something funny?"

"Thanks, Dad."

The rest of the ride was quiet. The only sign that Gwen was still alive during the ten minute drive was the occasional groan as she leaned her forehead against the back of the passenger seat and wrapped her arms around her stomach. Halfway home, Ben decided to ignore his father and reached over to rub her back. It wasn't a hug and she didn't even seem to notice, but it made him feel a little less useless until they got home.

He tried not to notice that she looked a lot paler as they pulled into the garage than she had at the dojo and that she was even slower at getting out of the car. He almost told Dad to take her home. Instead he grabbed her gym bag and tried not to feel guilty.

"You three are early," Mom said as she put a pan into the oven. She turned to them and frowned when she saw Gwen. "Is everything – Gwen, are you...?" Ben shook his head and waved for her to stop the second she started asking. Not that it mattered. Gwen didn't even look up, much less explode again. His Mom gave him a look before her eyes went back to Gwen and her lips became a tight line. "Why don't you two go and get washed up? I'll have dinner ready in about twenty minutes."

Ben glanced over at Gwen and she seemed to relax just a little at the news. The sooner dinner was done, the better. "Race you?"

She nodded and gave him a faint smile. "You're on." They were neck and neck when they reached the staircase and he poured on the speed even though his legs were sore from soccer. He was at the top in only a moment and he grinned when he didn't see her next to him. "Too slow!" he said as he turned to look back.

He thought she was only a step or two behind. Instead, she was still on the bottom half of the staircase. She stood there on the fifth step, blinking and sweating again, but she didn't take another step.

He went back down. "Now I know you're sick."

"I'm not sick. I just sat still too long after class."

"Are you sure? You look icky."

"I do?" She whimpered as her face fell and Ben felt the panic start. She should have insulted him back, not look like she wanted to cry. They might be together, but they were still Ben and Gwen. If she was too sick to even snap at him...

"Not that icky," he said in a nervous babble. "I've seen you look ickier. Like the time we ran into that nest of stinkflies outside of LA. You turned so green when we opened the door."

Gwen grimaced. "I almost forgot what that smelled like. Thanks, Doofus." She closed her eyes and muttered, "They're looking at me, aren't they?"

Ben didn't even have to check to know that his parents were. "You are acting kind of weird." To them. To him, she was way past weird. If she kept this up, she'd be in freak out country.

"Its okay," she said. He didn't realize she was talking to herself until she said it four more times and put her foot on the next stair. Still she wobbled and he grabbed her to keep her from falling. "I'm fine."

"Yeah," Ben said and he dragged the word out. He wished he could still go Forearms so he could just carry her up the rest of the stairs. Instead all he could do wrap his arm under her shoulders and help her up one step at a time. It took a few minutes before they got to the top.

The hug wasn't a surprise, but the kiss was. "Thank you, Ben," she whispered when she pulled her lips back. She tried to smile again, but it turned into a wince as she closed her eyes and clutched at the back of his jersey.

Hello freak out country. "What's wrong? Just tell me."

Gwen shook her head again and let him go. She turned and hurried into the bathroom. "I'll be right out."

Ben went to his room and threw her bag on the bed and his stuff on his dresser. He was about to close his door so he could change when he heard Gwen's strangled voice call out for him. He hurried back and knocked on the door. "Gwen, are you okay?"

"Get your mom."

"What's..."

"Ben. Please." It was the shakiness in her voice that made him turn and go. He had not heard her sound like that since she got hurt over the summer.

He didn't think XLR8 could have gotten down the stairs any faster than he did right then. "Mom!" He shouted the whole way down.

His mother and father were over by the kitchen counter whispering about something, but they both spun around when he came running at them. "Something's wrong with Gwen. Sensei said that she might have hurt herself. She wants to see you!" It all came out in such a rush that even he barely heard the spaces between the words.

Either his Mom was a better listener than he'd ever thought or she just heard the panic and decided to worry about the rest on the way because she went running around the counter. Ben turned and followed as fast as he could with his father just behind him. His mom was definitely faster than he gave her credit for. She beat him to the bathroom door by an easy five steps. She stopped and knocked. She didn't even sound winded as she asked, "Gwen?"

The door opened for a second, and Ben thought he saw Gwen look at him before it slammed shut again. "Go away, Doofus!" Her voice was high and thready.

Ben froze and blinked at the door as he tried to understand. It wasn't like he'd never seen her hurt before, or icky. They'd seen each other covered in alien pus. What was ickier than that? "But-"

His mom turned and gave him a very strange look. "Could you go and check on dinner, Ben?"

"But-"

"Go on, Ben. Don't worry. Your mom knows what she's doing," his father said as he gave him a gentle push towards the stairs. Ben shook his head and went. She'd never...

He heard the door open behind him a second later, and his mother gasp and say, "Oh, Gwen. It'll be okay, Honey."

"Hurts. Just make it stop." It only took a bit of straining to hear Gwen say those words because she was crying so hard. The door closed, but he could still hear her.

Gwen was crying. She was hurt so much that she was crying. What did she do to herself? Ben's heart pounded in his chest as he turned and ran back up the stairs. Gwen could yell at him for a while later, but he couldn't just...

His father appeared at the head of the stairs and blocked Ben's path. "I hear the timer, Ben. Go check."

Ben glared up at the man and tried to slip around him, but Dad was too fast. No matter what Ben tried he managed to stay one step ahead. Ben had another flashback to Fourarms as he tried to shove his father out of the way.

Dad grabbed him by the arms and knelt to look him in the eyes. He didn't look angry, just confused. Somehow that was worse. "What's wrong? Why are you acting like this?"

Ben shook his head as he tried to pull his arms free. How had his father forgotten all ready? What was so hard to understand? "Gwen's hurt."

Carl glanced back for a second, and when he looked back he squirmed just a little. "I don't think she is, but even if she was, Sandra can take care of her."

"I should be helping," Ben said as he tried to yank his arms free again, but his Dad had too good of a grip. He gave up fighting for a second and stared at the bathroom door from over his father's shoulder as his mind raced. It was her stomach, what if she hurt it again? How bad was it this time? Should he try to call Grandpa to get the alien medicine? If he should, then he still had to get by his father because he'd left his special cell phone on his dresser. All of those questions raced through his mind, but there was one thing he was sure of. "I should be helping. Not Mom. It's not her job."

His father eased his grip on Ben's arms and gave his son a look. "What?"

It was the look that did it, that made everything he was thinking slip out. "Its my job! I'm supposed to take care of her! That's what I'm supposed to do." He still trying to figure out everything else, but he knew this part. It was one of the few things that hadn't changed in the last three years and he knew that it wouldn't change for another seventeen. Everything else did, but not that.

They took care of each other. He took care of her. Him, not Mom.

Even when he couldn't, even when all he could do was sit there and watch as Grandpa and Aunt Vera tried to help her after Vilgax attacked them, he was still in the room. He felt so guilty that he thought he was going to throw up, but he was still there. No one chased him away.

She didn't chase him away.

How bad was it this time?

"It's not... We're the adults, Ben. Its our job to look out for you two. Not yours."

Ben finally took his eyes off the door so he could stare at his father. How could he even...? He should have understood. Grandpa would have understood. Ben tried to put it into words, but he couldn't. Not when he kept looking back at the bathroom door.

Gwen was hurt, and his dad didn't even care.

His dad cocked his head a little to the side as he stared. "You pushed me. You haven't ever... Why?"

"She's hurt," Ben said. He knew his dad wanted an apology, but he couldn't. Not for this. "She needs me and you're..."

"You'd just in the way," his father said. He said the words as gently as he could, but Ben still winced. "You're better off out here. Your mom can..."

"You wouldn't let anyone make you go away if Mom was hurt." Ben could feel his father staring at him, but it didn't matter. Dad was quiet now, and Ben could finally hear again. He heard his Mom saying something in a low voice that he couldn't make out, but he couldn't hear Gwen. At least the crying had stopped.

"She isn't hurt, Ben," Dad said, and for the first time he almost sounded like he understood. "I don't think so, but if she is I'll come and get you. Right now, your job is to go and check on dinner. I've seen Gwen eat after karate. You know she'll be hungry."

Ben almost laughed. Gwen was the only one who could eat almost as much as him. Especially after karate. Or heroing. He stared at his father. He didn't want to go, but if that was the only way he could help. "You'll come and get me?"

His father nodded and ruffled his hair. "Promise."

Ben nodded and went downstairs. He was still useless, but it was better than nothing. He heard the timer going off and hurried over to the stove. He knew how to cook. He learned his first summer with Grandpa Max how to do the basic things. Grilled cheese, macaroni and cheese, and other cheese related things. He had to learn if he ever wanted to eat anything normal. He also learned how to ruin a meal. 'Oh, you said medium low? I thought you said medium high. Sorry for wasting all those meal worms, Grandpa.'

That worked until Grandpa Max stopped asking for help. The summer got longer after that. Or dinner did, anyway.

Not that any of those dinners took as long as this one. He was sure that the timers would never go off, but they eventually did. Ben didn't know how long it had been, as his eyes had been stuck on the staircase the entire time. Not that the timers helped, either he missed them going off or his mom set them wrong again. Still, he saved most of the dinner. The fish was a little crispy, and some parts were a bit burned, but after years of Mom's cooking they were used to it. He filled a plate and poked at it as he waited.

About ten minutes later Dad came down and filled a plate. "Sandra will be down in a couple of minutes. She's putting Gwen up in the guest room."

"She is?" Ben asked, worried and happy at the same time.

"Sandra says that she's not up to the drive home and I'm not going to argue with her." His father poked a the fish and found a burnt bit, but he didn't say a word as he ate it. He didn't look up from the plate as he added, "She isn't hurt, Ben, or sick. And she'd not mad at you. She's just growing up and she's embarrassed right now."

It only took a second for Ben to figure out what that meant. His mom had lectured him enough about it over the years for him to put it together. He stabbed at the fish. "I could still do something. What if she needs...?" The sentence died because he had no idea how to help.

Some hero.

"She's lucky that you were looking out for her." His father was quiet again after that. Quiet as he kept glancing at Ben.

Ben just chewed even though he didn't taste any of the food. Neither of them said anything else until Mom cam back downstairs. She looked beat as she wandered over to the table. She looked at the fish and raised an eyebrow at the singed spots. "Cajun?"

Dad ate another singed piece. "Its good."

"Gwen's feeling a little better," Mom said as she went and got a tea-cup. "I lit some incense and hopefully the medicine will kick in soon. Sorry about your game night, Ben."

"Its okay." He put his fork down and shook his head. Incense? Ben wrinkled his nose and knew that he had to get it out of there before Gwen threw it out of the room. "I'll be right back."

His mom shook her head. "She needs to rest, Ben. I'm going to make her a cup of tea and..."

"Ben can take it," Dad cut in.

"I don't..." Mom said as she glanced at Ben and rubbed her arm.

"Is there any reason he can't?"

Mom said, and she sighed. "Okay. Ben you can go, just don't turn on the light. She says she's got a heck of a headache. I can't believe that she went to school today, much less karate. That girl acts too tough for her own good."

It wasn't an act. Ben didn't know anyone tougher. Except for him. And maybe Grandpa. That's why they were heroes. He almost told them that, instead he just nodded.

The six minutes it took to make the tea went on forever. It was worse than math class. There shouldn't be anything worse than math class. When it was finally done he grabbed the cup. He turned to go, but Mom held up a hand. She hurried over to the pantry and came back with a pack of crackers. "Tell Gwen to try to nibble on these. Leave some for her, Ben. I mean it."

"I will." Ben promised as he took them and, with that he was gone. Ben hurried up the stairs as fast as he could without spilling the tea and almost ran into the guest room door in his rush to get in. The lights were off, but the blinds and the window were open. It didn't let in much light, but there was enough to see Gwen lying curled up on her side under the covers with her back to the door. There was just a bit of a stink from Mom's incense. Gwen had already put the stick out and shoved it on to the windowsill. "I'm fine, Aunt Sandra. I just don't like the smell. Thank you."

"Not Mom."

Gwen rolled onto her back and he saw her grin for a second under the moonlight before she hid her head under the covers. "You must be loving this," she said, and her voice was only a little muffled. "I'm finally as gross as you always said I was."

"If I thought you were gross, you'd know. I'd look at you and go EWWWWW."

Gwen pulled the cover down just enough to watch him with one eye.

"Ewwwww."

"Brat." She pulled the cover off of her face. She pushed herself up just a little further on the pillows. Even in the dim light he could see her wince as she did it. She looked at the cup in his hand. "Tea?"

"Mom said it should help," Ben said as he sat down on the bed next to her. He handed the cup over and she took it with both hands. It still shook a little. She carefully sipped enough down until she could safely put the cup down on the nightstand. While she drank he opened the crackers. He pulled out a couple and handed them to her. "And to eat some of those."

Gwen took the crackers with one hand and took his now empty hand with the other. "Taking care of me is a job?"

Ben squeezed her hand. "My job. Its hero work."

"My job is worse."

"What job?"

"Taking care of you."

"That's not work. That's too cool to be work."

Gwen didn't say a word to that. She nibbled on the crackers and kept glancing over at him. Even in the dim light he could see her face fall a little more with each glance. When she finished she lifted his hand and pressed it against her cheek. Her skin felt cool under his palm. "I ruined everything tonight."

"A little," he said as he slid a little closer, "but that's okay. You can pay me back later."

"How?"

"I have a science project coming up next week..."

"No."

Ben sighed because that was a part of this game. Now that it was done, he could go on to what really mattered. "Are you feeling better?"

She shrugged. "You're so lucky that the only thing you have to deal with is your voice."

"Because that's so fun."

She looked away. "I think its cute."

He sighed because he had no idea why. She was the only one who did and she wouldn't say. "Can't you just zap yourself with some magic?"

"I checked. I checked years ago. There are spells, but they are all marked: 'Do not try. Really, it's not worth it.' I think the woman who wrote that over them probably knew what she was talking about."

Ben held out another cracker, but she didn't reach for it. Instead she just opened her mouth. "You must be feeling better if you're milking it like this." He fed her a cracker anyway. She bit down and he felt her teeth scape against his fingertips. He yanked his hand back and glared at her. "When did you turn into Ripjaws?"

"I see food; I bite. It's not my fault if your fingers get in the way." Gwen laughed, and it sounded brittle. Like she would crack at any second.

"Do you need anything?" There had to be something he could do to help. Anything. He was supposed to watch out for her. He was supposed to be her hero. If he still had the watch...

She shook her head and finished off her tea. Then she rolled over and curled up again. "I need you to stop asking how I feel. I need you to tell me which classes you slept through today so I know which ones I have to help you cram on." She leaned her head on his leg and her control cracked. "And I need you not to go away, Doofus. Please don't go away."

He felt her shake as she cried and he reached down to brush her hair out of her face. Then he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. He'd seen his father do that to mom when she was sick. Usually he made the most disgusting gagging noises he could as he left the room because it looked gross.

It seemed less wrong now.

The spot he kissed was wet and tasted like salt. When she calmed down he brushed at her hair again and said, "You have so little faith in me. Which classes? I slept through all of my classes today. You're not the only over-achiever in the family."

He heard her sniff. She rolled back on to her pillows and reached for a box of tissues that were waiting there. "I'm so proud of you. Tell me which ones."

"Well, the first class was History, and I swear that Mr. Parogi is so old that he probably lived through most of it. I think he thought it was dull the first time around, too, and he wants to share the pain. If the bad guys ever weaponize that kind of boredom we're going to be in trouble."

He kept talking until the words became so much noise and she started making that little wheezing snore of hers. He thought about leaving for just a second, but even if she hadn't asked him not to he wouldn't have. She might need something, and he didn't mind waiting. He watched her until everything went dark.

* * *

Ben felt something fall on him and he opened his eyes in a panic. He tried to sit up and reach for the Omnitrix, but something was holding his left arm down. He was about to start punching when he heard someone say, "Its okay, Ben. We're just covering you up. Go back to sleep."

It was a blanket. The one from his bed. He looked up at the blurry shape above him. "Dad?"

"Go back to sleep, Ben."

Ben felt something warm pressed up against his left side. He blinked and saw the top of Gwen's head as she laid there curled up on his arm and he felt a rush of panic even as he pulled her closer. She never woke up, she didn't even stop snoring. "Dad, this isn't..."

"It's all right, Ben," his mom voice came from Gwen's side of the bed as she pulled the blanket over a bit more on to that side. "Just go back to sleep."

"No. I was just..."

He felt his father's hand as it ruffled his hair again. "Go back to sleep. We're not mad. Everything's okay."

Ben shook his head. It must be a dream if they were saying that. He leaned his cheek against the top of Gwen's head and felt everything slip away again.


	3. Chapter 3: 2am

Chapter 3: 2am

She didn't know how her husband slept that night.

It must be something in the Tennyson family genes, Sandy figured, that let them fall asleep anywhere at any time no matter what was happening. Give them five minutes to get comfortable and they would could sleep like a rock. Even at school. Especially at school, unfortunately. She always envied them for it.

Especially tonight. It was almost two and she didn't think she'd slept for more than a couple of minutes. Her mind kept racing and she was wide awake, even though she had snuggled against Carl's chest. She could feel his breath against the top of her head and hear his heart beat under her ear. It was her favorite way to sleep. No matter what happened during the day, she could always fall asleep when she laid like this.

At least she could until she realized that this was the exact same position they'd found Ben and Gwen lying in just a few hours ago.

It itched at the back of her head when Ben didn't come downstairs again after bringing Gwen her tea, but she figured that the two were talking. The itch got worse after a half an hour and was maddening thirty minutes after that. Carl didn't say anything, but she saw him glancing upstairs ever now and then, too. Finally, they gave up on pretending to watch TV and went to check on them.

She thought that they would be talking or that Ben had gone back to his room. She never expected to find the two sound asleep when they walked into the guest room. The only good thing was that Gwen was under the covers while Ben lying on top of them. Lying on top and shivering just a little from the cool air coming through the window. He had not even changed out of his soccer uniform yet.

Sandy didn't say a word. None came to mind and, even if she did think of one, her mouth probably wouldn't work.

They looked so peaceful sleeping there together. It was the calmest Ben had looked in months. Usually her son slept curled up like he worried that something bad was about to happen and he might have to get up at any second. She'd seen the same look on Gwen's face the few times she'd slept over. They looked so tense when they slept and Sandy didn't have a clue why.

Not then, though. Right then they looked like they didn't have a care in the world. Right then they looked their age.

Sandra should have woken Ben up and sent him to his own bed. She knew that. Or Carl could have just carried him. He'd done that more than once over the years and this time he didn't even have to worry about stairs. She knew that it was wrong to leave them like that.

Even if it was still innocent and cute.

For now.

They were both growing up though. Gwen proved that yesterday and Ben's voice had been breaking for a month now. Soon, they'd be teenagers with everything that came with it. Soon, this would be trouble.

It might already be trouble.

Or adorable.

Sandy stood there and tried to decide which, but Carl didn't. She didn't notice that he'd moved until she heard him pull another blanket out of the closet. That settled it. They could be cute for a while longer.

She tried not to think about how Ben had woken up for a few seconds and his first instinct was to pull Gwen closer to him.

She tried not to think about it, which meant that she couldn't stop. She worried at the moment again and again until sleep was impossible. She knew that she wouldn't sleep until she figured out which it was, so she finally gave up and forced herself to get out of bed. Her bare feet barely made a sound on the wood floor as she made her way to the guest room. She could hear the kids snoring through door she'd left cracked open last night. Ben's snores had gotten louder since his voice started changing, while Gwen's was still the same soft wheeze it had always been.

She opened the door and slipped inside.

They had rolled over on to their sides sometime in the last few hours and somehow managed to snuggle even closer together. Ben was almost spooning Gwen with his right arm wrapped around her middle and his face so close to the back of her head that it was half buried in her hair. He was almost snoring right in her ear, but she didn't even seem to notice.

Sandra moved around the bed and knelt in front of Gwen to check on her. She could tell that the pain killers were starting to wear off just from the way her niece's face was scrunching up and how she was curling in around her stomach. It would take just a second to wake her up and give her more, but there was no way to know if Gwen would go back to sleep after.

Gwen needed the sleep more than the medicine. It helped more, or at least it did for her.

Sandra remembered her first period and it had been scary enough even though she took the day off from school. Gwen didn't. She reached up and brushed her hand across Gwen's forehead. She was under four blankets, next to Ben and she still felt cool to the touch. The poor girl. What was she thinking? Even if she didn't quite know what was going on with her body, the cramps and headache must have gotten worse all day. Sandra couldn't understand why she kept pushing herself. She was a perfectionist, but she could have missed one day of school, one karate class, one night hanging out with...

No.

Gwen put up with all the pain because she thought seeing Ben was more important. She endured it until she couldn't, until it was too much even for her, just to spend a few hours with him.

Sandy couldn't even remember the last time she'd seen Gwen cry, but the girl sobbed last night as she begged for the pain stop. She cried until she was shaking. Sandra did everything she could to calm the girl down so she could get some medicine into her, but Gwen wasn't listening. Not to her, anyway. Then they heard Ben shouting and her niece just stopped. Stopped and looked mad.

When Ben said that it was his job to look out for her, the relief in Gwen's eyes shined right through everything else.

And that was when Sandra knew.

"You were so brave yesterday," she whispered with pride. "Both of you."

Neither heard her. Of course not, they were Tennysons.

Her legs started to ache from the crouch, but Sandy still didn't move as she looked at the two of them. She'd known for years that her son dreamed of being a superhero like Kangaroo Commando. The only time he ever got in trouble at school – aside from sleeping or not paying attention – was when he tried to help someone else, when he tried to protect someone else. She could see him becoming a police officer, or a soldier.

No matter what her son became, though, she knew she would always be proud of him. She already knew he would be a good man like Carl and, one day, just as good a father and husband.

Her niece had the same need to help people. She knew that Gwen even tutored the kids who bullied her just because they asked. She could see Gwen becoming a lawyer, or a doctor one day. Or even a police officer, too, because it was kind of hard to see her niece being happy behind a desk all day. Gwen's only problem was that she had so many options that she floundered, but the Sandra knew that the second Gwen figured out what she wanted there would be no stopping her.

The thought made Sandra's heart pounded in her chest as she looked at the two of them. Did Gwen know who she wanted already? Did Ben? Were they already too late?

If they weren't cousins this would be perfect. Gwen was everything Sandra had ever hoped that Ben would find. She was smart, caring, clever and was willing to fight when she had to. She had the focus Ben didn't, while Ben had the impulsive nature that she needed. They balanced each other so well, and she knew that they were already best friends.

If they weren't cousins...

But they were.

Sandra stared at the two of them lying side by side and just for a second she saw...

Sandra closed her eyes and shook her head to get rid of the image. That kind of thinking would only make things so much more difficult for everyone. Things didn't need to get any worse. She wished she could be happy for them, that she could give them her blessing.

All she could do was give them both a quick kiss because she needed answers and they weren't in this room. Gwen barely moved, but Ben scrunched up his face in protest and buried it deeper into Gwen's hair to hide. She wished she had a camera right now, because it was just so adorable.

They were family. It was wrong.

It didn't feel wrong.

She didn't know what to do.

She never knew what to do when it came to raising Ben. Neither did Carl. The only thing either of them had ever been sure of, parenting wise, was that they didn't want to be theirs. Carl forgave his father years ago for all the time away. He forgave it, but he never forgotten it. He swore he would always be there for his son and he always was.

Sandra's parents had been there too much. They told her what to wear, what to think, what to do. She felt smothered every day until she finally got away to college and she never looked back. She promised herself that she would be Ben's friend, not his warden, and that she would let him be his own person.

From the moment Sandy and Carl found out that they were having Ben they were both sure they knew how to raise him. It seemed so easy to think that all they had to do was the opposite of their parents and everything would be perfect. It only took them a couple of hours to realize that knowing what not to do wasn't enough.

She wandered into the office across from the guest room. It was a small room with a few bookcases and a desk. It was nothing compared to the library at Gwen's house, but no one in this house was a reader. Not really. They only ever collected one type of book, and they were all on one bookcase in the corner. Dust covered them now, but they were still there.

They had collected dozens of parenting books over the years as they tried to find the answers they needed. They'd read each and every one as they tried to find answers for a thousand questions. They had followed the lessons, done the exercises and thought that they were making themselves into the perfect parents.

Except they weren't. Ben kept acting up and acting out. So they got more books, did more exercises and rearranged their lives over and over as they tried to get it right. She wasted a year trying to make him stop calling her mom because some book said that he would be happier being her equal.

She tried to make her son stop calling 'Mom.' What was wrong with her?

But even after that she would have said that the books helped. It wasn't until last year, until Lili lost -

She'd been so jealous when they heard the good news. The idea that it was going to be That Woman who had another - Sandy closed her eyes as the old guilt washed over her. She'd been so jealous until she heard Frank's broken voice on the phone. Then she just wished...

Ken would have been beautiful.

Lili reminded Sandy of her mother since the day Frank introduced her; the plans, the need for control. Just talking to the woman was enough for Sandy to feel like she was trapped again. Until that day, anyway. Until she sat there and watched Lili collapse as everyone's dreams fell apart. After that the fighting didn't matter. It just looked stupid and petty.

Especially their endless and nasty fight over who was the best mother. They'd fought over that for eleven years, but neither of them even thought about Ben and Gwen after the funeral. She never even realized that she didn't until the next day, when Max mentioned how cute they'd looked when he found them asleep together on the nursery floor.

They were just kids and they had to face that horrible day all alone. Sandy couldn't even look at the room and she didn't know what made Ben and Gwen go inside. She didn't know why, but she knew that they must have been so scared and confused and no one even remembered to check on them.

She wanted to be a rock for her son - and Gwen, too. Someone they could both depend on. She wasn't. She wanted to be the perfect mother, but she wasn't even a good one.

So she went to the books again so she could find some way to fix things, to make things better for the kids. That was when she finally saw how many there were and how different they all were. She never realized how many times she and Carl had rearranged their lives because of the books until then. No wonder Ben acted out. All the changes must have been so confusing to him - Heck, they confused her sometimes.

No wonder Ben worshiped his Grandpa Max. No one ever doubted where they stood with Max.

It took her a long time to admit it, but when she did she put the books away and did the best she could without them. She barely even thought about them until now.

Ben needed them to be rocks now, but she still had no idea what she should do. She had not touched the books in a year, but right now she wanted to tear them all off of the shelves and dig through them until she found an answer. Her fingers itched as she ran them across the books.

"Do you think that they'll help this time?" Carl asked with just a bit of anger. She spun around and saw him standing there in the doorway. He had his arms crossed as he glared at the bookcase with bleary and bloodshot eyes. He had been so sure that the books were helping until she made him see that they weren't.

"No," she admitted with a sad little laugh. She didn't even have to open one to know that they wouldn't. She didn't have to, but her fingers traced the book spines anyway. She could almost guess what the books would say just from the color on the cover. The one with the red spines would say to separate the cousins. The one with the yellow would say that it wouldn't work, that separating them would just make the problem worse because they would find a way to see each other and start resenting their parents. The pink would say not to worry, it was just a crush and that it would go away.

"I wish you would throw them away, then."

"I will," she promised. She made that promise every time he asked, but she still couldn't quite manage.

"You know, you're a good mom without the stupid things," he said. "What do you think we should do?"

"I don't know." She felt his eyes on her and she spun around suddenly angry. She would have yelled, but she didn't want to wake the kids up. "I don't know! I can already hear the jokes. If people found out, they would have a miserable time. And they're family. We can't -" Her voice broke because she couldn't finish that sentence. Not after what she'd seen how they acted yesterday. "They could be so happy together."

Carl was there in a flash to hold her as she cried out eight hours worth of confusion. He'd always been her rock. When she was done she looked up at him. "Ben acts so much like you lately."

"He acts like his Grandpa," Carl said, and there were years worth of pain in those words. The one thing Carl wanted was to be as close to his son as he always wished he could with his father. He wanted it, but it never happened.

She shook her head as much as she could considering she had it pressed against his chest. "He looks up to his Grandpa, but everything he did yesterday he learned from watching you." Taking the tea to Gwen, carrying her gym bag, helping her up the stairs. Carl had done all that and more for her over the years. Ben usually made faces or ran away when it happened, but he proved last night that he was paying attention.

She knew something was wrong with Gwen the moment the girl walked through the door, but watching Ben help her up the stairs made her sick with worry. They were arguing whether they should take her to the hospital when Ben came charging back down. He said something to them, but he said the words so fast that they came out a jumble. The only word she made out was Gwen.

The words didn't matter. The panic in his eyes was enough. She'd never seen Ben look like that ever, but she'd seen the same panic in his father's eyes once.

Carl was shaking his head. "I was never that frantic."

"You were. You were even worse." Sandy said with a small laugh. "Ben didn't punch a nurse. You did."

"Man was a jackass," Carl muttered. It'd been almost thirteen years, but he still mad. It was only a few weeks before Ben was born and they were in the middle of another scare. The pregnancy had been so hard. She spent weeks in bed rest and they still almost lost Ben more than once. It was the last - even though they didn't know it at the time - and they were both almost hysterical by the time they got to the hospital.

The staff had her in a wheelchair and was wheeling her through the doors as soon as the paperwork was done. The doctor asked her something, but she was so worried that she wasn't paying any attention. She knew she should have, but Carl was right there. Except he wasn't. She spun around and saw him on the other side of the door trying to get past a nurse who was holding him back. The thought of facing whatever was happening by herself was too much and she just lost it.

One second Carl was arguing with the man, the next the man was on the ground and he was kneeling next to her and hugging her as hard as he could. She never loved him more than she did right then.

And she was sure that she looked just as relieved as Gwen did last night.

"Ben tried to shove me out of the way when he heard Gwen..."

Sandra laughed and leaned up to kiss him. "And you think he doesn't take after you." He smiled and kissed her back. When they broke apart she sighed. "I'm sorry I didn't listen when you told me months ago."

"It's all right. I didn't really believe it back then either. At the most, I thought it was just a crush."

It wasn't. She knew that now. It should have made the decision easier, but it didn't. "Its only been a few hours. I don't know what's the best thing to do."

"I've been trying to figure it out for six months and I don't know either," he said. He sounded exhausted, and not just because it was so early in the morning. "But we have to do something. If we don't we're going to have grandchildren running around in a couple of years, and I'm too young for that."

"Don't even -" She said, but her heart wasn't in it. She closed her eyes, but the moment she did she saw the two of them again like she had a few minutes ago. They were older and... "I don't want to hurt them if we don't have to. I don't- This summer was hard enough on them. I don't want to put them through that again."

It made her feel sick when she thought about how the kids had acted the two months after the accident, after Phoenix. She still didn't know what happened, all she knew was that the Rust Bucket was trashed and Gwen was hurt. She didn't know why both kids acted like it was their fault or why they stopped talking to each other, but they were...

They barely ate or slept, and in the end everyone was scared for them. It was so bad that the whole family got together to find a way to fix things. To make them talk again.

They did. They fixed things a little too well.

"Trust me, I don't want that either, but we have to do something. We have to let Frank and Lili know."

Sandy looked away. "Do we?"

"Would you want them to hide this from us?"

"No. No, but... We don't have anything to tell them. Not really. We haven't seen anything but a few looks."

"I know what I saw."

"I know, but Lili will never believe us. She'll need more. You know that. She won't throw away her plans just because of a look. She'd need a kiss or love notes or something." She wondered if they had kissed yet, or if it was still as innocent as it looked, and what she'd find if she searched Ben's room. It was something she'd swore she would never do, but now she was tempted.

Carl closed his eyes and she knew he was counting to ten. Then to twenty. Finally he just sighed and nodded. "We can't just ignore this."

"We don't have to ignore it, but there must be a middle ground between letting them do whatever they want and separating them today."

Carl started pacing. He always did that when he had to think. He said it helped get the blood moving. She looked at him and realized that even after six months he wanted more time to think, too. "We can give them some new rules."

She nodded. That would work and it would give them time. "No more closed doors, lights on. That kind of thing?"

"No more sleeping in the same bed? Yeah. I'm sure we can talk Frank into going along with that without..."

Without blowing everything apart before they knew if they should or not. "The kids will hate it."

"Kids need rules to hate." Carl said. He thought for a second and made a face. "And I guess I'll have to give him the Talk again."

Sandy grinned. Better him than her. "I'll talk to Lili about giving one to Gwen."

"Watch that grin. I'm sure Lili can find some way to make you take care of that for her, too."

She scowled and crossed her arms. "I'm glad I was here when Gwen needed me. Heaven help her if I was out and you had to take care of her."

"If you thought I was frantic back when I hit that guy," Carl said with a little shudder. "I'm going to tell Frank he owes me a steak dinner for last night."

"Carl."

"Fine, two steak dinners." Carl was smirking as he came back over to kiss her forehead. "Come on. They'll be here in a few hours and you should try to get a little sleep."

She wanted to, she really did, but she knew that if she went to bed now she wouldn't sleep a wink. Even without the worry, there was something she wanted to do first. "You go ahead. I'll be there in a few minutes."

He glared over at the bookcase. "You're not going to spend the rest of the night with those books, are you?"

"No. Tomorrow they all go in the trash. I mean it this time." He looked at her and she swatted his arm. "Go on. I love you."

"I love you, too."

With that he left. She closed the door and turned on the light. She blinked at the sudden glare as she walked by the bookcase to the closet in the corner. It only took her a moment to find the box with all of her drawing supplies from college. The box was covered with a thick layer of dust, but everything inside still looked okay.

She sat down at the desk and pulled out her old pencils and her sketch pad. She flipped through it and stopped every few pages to look at portraits she had painted and forgotten all about. She saw the faces of friends she hadn't thought about in years, and dozens of pages of Carl. Some she'd made on the sly when they took an art class together in college before she arranged his introducing himself to her. She still owed Mary for that. Others were from when they were dating, and a couple after they were married.

The last few drawings were ones she'd done of Ben when he was only weeks old. The very last one was one she must have done when she was babysitting Gwen, because it showed the two of them lying in a crib together. Their eyes were huge as they tried to take in everything. She laughed to herself because it seemed so appropriate as she flipped to the next page and started to draw them again.

It was what she'd seen when she watched them sleep. Ben and Gwen were sitting side by side on a bed. They looked older and tired, but happy. Ben had a beard for some reason - she never pictured her son with one before, but it fit him - and Gwen had a wild mane of red hair that ran down her back.

They were both grinning as they held a little baby girl between them. A little girl with Ben's smile, Gwen's nose and their eyes.


	4. Chapter 4: Hiding

Authors notes: I want to thank Hapcelion for beta reading this. If there are any mistakes they are all mine. I also want to thank him for setting up a tropes page for Little Moments. You can find the link on my profile. It looks awesome, go check it out.

Finally, I want to give a special thanks to Baku Babe for suggesting the music for this chapter. I knew it was perfect the second she said it.

Chapter 4: Hiding

October 31, 2000

"We rushed over for this?" Ben asked, his voice was just short of a whine.

Gwen watched him as he looked over Michelle's yard. The mask he was wearing kept her from seeing any more of his face besides his eyes and mouth, but that was more than enough to see how disappointed he was as he stared at all of the little kids who were running around as fast as they could and screaming.

"It won't be so bad." She tried to sound positive, but even she winced when a kid – the pumpkin costume made it impossible to tell if it was a boy or girl – shoved its way between them and shrieked. A second later a very harried looking man, who had better have been the father, followed. He barely glanced at them as he went by. "An apology would have been nice." Gwen muttered as she glared at the man's back.

Ben shook his head. "I thought you said Michelle was throwing the party?"

"She is," Gwen said. Then she kind of shrugged. "Well, her dad is. It's for all the kids at the army base. I've been helping them set up for the last week and they said that they could really use some more eyes around for tonight." That was the line she'd used on her mom to convince her to let them come over anyway.

"But..." Ben looked around and his shoulders slumped. "I thought... I thought it was for awesome people like us, not... I was going to show everyone my mad dance skills."

"Your mad cow skills, you mean?"

"I can move. You saw me."

"Once, and only because I taught you," Gwen said as she put her hand on her hip.

"That was only for the fancy stuff," Ben said with a bit of a snort. "I know how to do dance to real music."

She sighed and looked at the house. "There's still music." She could hear it from here and the house was twenty feet away. Kids music.

"Dorky music." Ben shook his head and looked down the street. "We can still go trick or treating. Get some candy without all the kids hanging around. Maybe find somewhere quiet..."

She felt even worse then. They had not had a single second of privacy since she 'became a woman' three weeks ago. Those were the exact words her father had used when they told her the new rules for when Ben was over. She sat there without saying a word during the whole talk, but she just wanted to scream. At least her Mom and Dad acted like they thought it was all a little too much. Ben's parents were so much worse. Leaving the door open wasn't enough for them, she and Ben couldn't even watch a movie alone last week. Ben's mom and dad came into his room and watched it with them. It was beyond unfair. She couldn't even make fun of the movie without being shushed.

Or even glance at him to share the misery. It was worse than not being with him at all.

"I knew we wouldn't get five seconds to ourselves," Ben muttered.

And that's what broke her. She reached up and brushed her free hand against his cheek. "We'll go trick or treating. Just let me tell Michelle."

Ben gave the kids another glance. "She'll probably want to come with us."

"She can play lookout. She'll owe us for helping her sneak off," Gwen said with a nod and Ben perked up just a little. He all but dragged her up the walk to the house. They slipped through the open door and froze. There were even more little kids inside the house than outside. They piled up around either the little barrel in one corner of the living room and dunking for apples or looking for the witches eyes in a pile of marbles in the other. Gwen winced at that one. She'd helped set that game up, but it felt a little weird the whole time she did.

And she somehow 'lost' the two green witch eyes.

There was another line of kids waiting for candy by the kitchen bar. They shouted for more, but thankfully Michelle's dad ignored them. He was dressed as a pirate and was grinning from ear to ear as he handed the stuff out a little at a time. Thankfully because the kids were already running around and screaming as loud as they could. If they all had a sugar high at the same time not even XLR8 would have been fast enough to save the two of them.

"Do you see her?" Ben asked her. He was just about yelling over the crowd noise. "What is she?"

"A hippie," Gwen said. She could still see Michelle's dad's face when Michelle told him that them that a couple of days ago at dinner. He went red and told her that she wasn't and Michelle just kept making the costume more and more elaborate - down to walking around outside just to get her feet dirty enough - while her dad kept freaking. It would have been so funny to watch if Gwen wasn't sitting right there. She saw dozens of kids, but they only came up to her waist so they were easy enough to see over. There was a woman dressed up as the Bride of Frankenstein in the corner who was looking over and waving. Michelle's mom.

Gwen felt her stomach tighten as she returned the wave and turned away. She liked Michelle's parents, but after the last few weeks parents were the last thing she wanted to deal with. "I don't see her. She must be getting something out of the basement. Come on."

Ben said something, but she couldn't hear him over the noise of the crowd as she caught his hand and dragged him over to the door under the stairs. She pulled it open and nearly jumped out of her skin when something started cackling above her. It was only a little speaker hooked up to the door, but she had heard way too many bad guys laugh like that and the sound sent a shiver up Gwen's back.

They hurried down the stairs and she stopped at the bottom and spun around just so she could see the look on Ben's face. It did not disappoint. She watched his mouth drop again as he looked around.

The basement was almost spooky. The floor was still bare, but there were chains and shackles hanging from the walls and truly huge cobwebs in the corners. The lights were all gone and replaced with flickering electric candles. They were just bright enough to keep anyone from tripping, but everything was half hidden in shadows. The whole effect said modern dungeon and was just creepy cool.

There were more than thirty kids down there, all either her age or a couple of years older. There was an almost even mix of boys and girls scattered around in small groups. Everyone was in costume. Most were unique, but there were a lot of pirates, vampires and werewolves down here.

"This would be a heck of a fight if they were real," Ben said as he eyed them all. Then he glared at her. "You knew."

"Yeah." She smirked and put her arms around his shoulders. In the back of her head she knew that she shouldn't. She had to be responsible, to be sensible. There were kids crowding everywhere around her. Someone would see...

They would see a boy dressed as the Kangaroo Commando and a girl dressed up like Lucky Girl standing together. That's all anyone would see. Not them. Not her and Ben. For one night, they could be anybody. That's what Michelle told her weeks ago when she told her about the party, anyway, and Gwen wanted to believe it. "It was so much fun watching you go pale when you saw all the kids."

He shook his head, but he didn't pull free. "I could still go trick or treating by myself."

"You could," Gwen said. Her heart beat a little faster with worry as she leaned in and gave him a small kiss. A very small one. She lost her nerve and pulled away just after she felt her lips brush against his, "if you want to."

He froze and looked at her, but when he leaned in she let go and backed away. She saw the hurt in his eyes, the hurt and the understanding, but she couldn't...

She thought she could, she'd been trying to convince herself for the last two weeks that she could, but a part of her was still terrified that her parents would find out. Find out and separate them. The butterflies in her stomach got worse as she looked around. A few people glanced over, but no one said anything. There were no screaming about them being cousins, or running off to tell their parents.

No, someone was running up. The old timey soldier who looked like she belonged on the History Channel. She pulled her arms back and felt her cheeks burn under her mask as her heart started pounding. She'd let her guard slip for one second. It wasn't fair. She as about to try to explain when the soldier was hugging her.

"There you two are!" Michelle shouted in her ear. "I missed it! I can't believe I missed it! What did he look like when he saw the party?"

"He went all pale when he saw all the kids outside. And his mouth dropped so far that I could count his teeth," Gwen said, her voice just short of a happy squeal.

"Did not," Ben said as he crossed his arms.

Michelle shook her head and laughed as she pulled away from Gwen. "Don't lie. I do the same thing every time I go upstairs to get more soda. So many little monsters. Way cooler down here."

"I guess," Ben said from behind Gwen's back. It was grudging, but she knew he was impressed. "You made Gwen do the cobwebs, right?"

"As if." Gwen shook her head shivered at the thought. She watched Michelle pull the giant things out of their bags and knew that they were fake, but she could almost see the spiders crawling around on them. Touching them... She felt something brush the back of her neck and jumped forward with a little shriek. She spun around and saw Ben's finger hanging in the air where the back of her neck had been a second before and swatted his arm. "Doofus!"

"Sorry," he said. She knew he wasn't the least bit even without his evil grin. His grin faded as he started glancing over at the all the food and candy that covered the table by the staircase. Gwen wished she was hungry, too. She'd barely touched her sandwich at lunch and neither of them had dinner yet, but she wasn't. Every time she looked at Ben, her stomach fluttered just a little more.

Gwen turned back to Michelle just so she could look at someone else. Her friend was dressed in a beige uniform with two white handled pistols holstered on her belt and weird stick tucked under her arm. "I thought you were going to be a hippie. What's with the soldier costume?"

"Soldier costume?" Michelle said and she scowled. She pulled the stick free and swatted the end of it in her left hand. She only winced a little after it hit. "General Patton wasn't just a soldier. General Patton is the only one crazy awesome enough to run this whole blasted party, and its going great. The hippie thing was just to bug the Colonel. Hippies. Ewww."

"Who was insane enough to put you in charge of anything?" Ben spun around, too shocked to even worry about food.

"My Dad, who else?" Michelle said. "And he said I was free to whack anyone who talked back or did anything dumb tonight. Even you two." She paused and glanced at Gwen. "Especially you two."

"And he gave you a weapon?" Gwen asked in horror as she stared at the stick. "You must be loving this."

"Best night ever. I just wish I could take this thing to school tomorrow. So many people there could use a smack upside the head," Michelle said as she eyed the stick with an evil gleam. She shook it off and looked them over. "Nice Kangaroo Commando costume, Ben. And... giant cat?" She asked Gwen.

Gwen sighed. She knew when she put on her costume that only she and Ben would know who it was and that she'd be explaining all night, but a part of her still hoped that someone would recognize the costume. She was on TV a couple of times and that was kind of famous. She opened her mouth to explain, but Ben beat her to it. "She's Lucky Girl. She's a superhero we saw in New Orleans."

"She wore that?" Michelle asked with a smirk as she eyed Gwen again.

"Yeah. Kinda." Gwen fidgeted a little from the attention and pulled at her new dark purple unitard. She had to get a new one and it didn't sit right yet, but it fit a lot better than the old one had. She had no idea how much taller she'd gotten over the last two years until she tried to put on the original a few days ago. Her costume more than lived up to its name when she found another unitard that was the right color and size at the mall yesterday.

"And she's called Lucky Girl?" Michelle glanced over at Ben as she asked, "How lucky did she get?"

"Super luc-" Gwen started to say when her brain kicked in and Michelle slapped her hand over her mouth. Her face got so hot that she was sure that it glowed like a lamp behind her mask. "She had luck based super powers, not...!"

"Not what?" Ben asked.

"Nothing!" The two girls said together. Gwen's voice was hot with anger as she glared at her best friend, while Michelle's was a squeak as she tried very hard not to laugh.

Ben stared at them both for a good minute before he shook his head and went back to the candy with a mutter of, "Girls."

Gwen just wanted to curl up somewhere and disappear. Instead she crossed her arms and tapped her foot as she glared down at her friend. After a couple of seconds Michelle finally calmed down enough to wipe her eyes. She at least had the grace to look embarrassed. "I'm so sorry, Crazy." It would have sounded better if she didn't giggle again at the end of it, but the hug at the end helped. "Are you ready?" She asked, her voice a whisper.

The butterflies in Gwen's belly got bigger and meaner. "I don't know."

Michelle pulled away and just stared at her. "Gwen..."

Gwen looked down. "Not yet. I'll know when I'm ready," she said. She wondered if she sounded as miserable as she felt.

"Ready for what?" Ben asked as he wiped some chocolate off his mouth.

"Ready to meet some of my people," Michelle said. Gwen gave her a grateful look. Her friend could be a pain in the butt, but she could cover like no one else. She spun around and waved at them to follow her. "Come on."

"I didn't even know you knew this many people. You don't talk to this many people at school," Gwen said as she eyed everyone around them. She felt just a little nervous as she did. Meeting new people was always just a little nerve-wracking. That was one of the reasons that she had reached out and grabbed Ben's hand. That was still safe enough and it made her feel just a bit better. That was one reason, but mostly she did it because she hadn't held hands with him in three weeks and she wasn't going to waste a second now.

"I talk to everyone I want to at school, Crazy. It's not my fault that its only about ten people. Well, you and nine wannabe's. Things are different on base. Mom takes me and my brother out on the welcome wagon when a new family moves in so we can tell them what's what." She paused and glanced back. "Kind of like you did for me last year. I owe you so much for that."

"You don't owe me anything. Not for that anyway." Gwen gave the girl a look and added, "You do owe me plenty for putting up with you for so long, though."

Michelle let out a fake groan and slapped her hand over her heart. "I figured Ben makes you because he could use the break."

"And the pizza," Ben added. He looked at Gwen. "Don't even. I know you're starving, too."

"Am not," Gwen said. She wished she was. "We'll eat in a sec, okay?"

"We better, or I may start gnawing on you," he said to her and leaned in close enough that she could feel his breath on the side of her neck.

She bit back a giggle as she scrunched up her neck and swatted him away. Then she turned her glare on her best friend for laughing. Again. "Dealing with the two of you at once is so not fair."

"Don't worry, I'll pick on him soon enough," Michelle said as she lead them to a group of about ten kids who were sitting in a loose circle in the corner of the room. "Hey everyone. This is Ben and Gwen. Guys, this is everyone. Or a good chunk of them, anyway."

Some of the kids said "hi;" most just waved or nodded. They all slid over just a little to make room. There were a few smiles, and one of the girls looked at Ben for just a fraction of a second too long before she saw Gwen holding his hand. Gwen didn't glare, but she did look intently at the girl while she moved just a bit closer to Ben and wrapped her arm around his.

Suddenly there were worse things than getting caught.

"What unit are your parents with?" One of the guys dressed as a pirate asked. Gwen glanced at him, and he grinned just a little. The smile went away when Ben moved even closer to her.

Michelle shook her head. "No unit. They're civs, but they're cool."

"If you say so," the girl who'd been looking at Ben said. "We were just talking about the creepiest or freakiest things we've ever seen. You two see anything?"

"They're civs. The creepiest they'll see is their mom running a red light on the way home from getting groceries," another of the boys said, and a few people laughed.

Gwen saw Ben glance down at his left wrist and she knew what he was thinking. There was nothing freakier than the Omnitrix, even if it was sitting in a box under his bed now. The freakiest thing they ever saw? It would take years to talk about all the freaky things that happened just during their first summer, much less the last two and a half years. There were things that she knew no one here would believe. She knew it because she didn't believe it, and she'd been there.

They'd seen so many awesome things and they couldn't say a word.

"We saw a werewolf once," Ben said.

"Ben!" Gwen glared at him. He was going to be in so much trouble when she told Grandpa. Then she remembered she would have to deal with everyone else first. She looked around and waited for someone to laugh, but no one did.

"Really?" The guy dressed as the mummy asked as he leaned forward. "What happened?"

"We were in Arizona and one jumped out right in front of us. It must have been three times taller than me. It slashed at my arm and just missed." Gwen could see him itching to tell the rest of it. How he'd gone hero and they'd hunted after it. Instead he sighed. "The Navajo sent a hunting party after it, but they couldn't catch it. They trapped it in a volcano, though."

Everyone looked around until the mummy guy nodded. "Cool."

The pirate guy looked at her again, or was still looking at her - either way it made her want to squirm a little away from him – asked her, "What about you?"

For just a second she thought about lifting her hands up and calling up enough magic to make the air around them glow. Or toss out a small lightning bolt. Instead she gave Ben a look and said, "I thought I saw Bigfoot once, but it was really his uncle wandering around the woods without a shirt during a family camping trip." Ben sighed a little as he shook his head, but he didn't say a word about her stealing his story. Gwen looked at the girl sitting on his other side and smiled. "Beat that."

"All right. This happened about five years ago during a family trip. We'd been driving all day when my parents finally decided to stop somewhere for the night. It was the best place in town and we still triple locked the door and shoved a chair under the doorknob. The only reason we didn't move the dresser too was because it was bolted to the floor. That's how bad this place was. So anyway, I was just about to fall asleep when I felt something in my hair."

"Bugs?" Someone asked and Gwen shivered with disgust.

"Not unless bugs have fingers," the girl said as she pulled her long hair in front of her and petted it. "I felt them running their fingers through it and then I heard this old lady singing. My only thought was some serial killer had broken in and I was in the middle of a horror movie. I wake up and spin over expecting to see a crazy person. Instead there this glowing white cloud that kind of looks like an old lady floating next to my bed. I start screaming, and so do my parents when they wake up. We didn't even bother to change, we just grabbed our stuff and ran."

"So much for sleep tonight. Thanks Emma," Michelle said as she patted at the tight bun she had her hair in. "Who's next?"

"I saw a sea monster when I was out fishing," a guy said from over his girlfriend's shoulder. They were both dressed as werewolves and she was sitting in his lap. He had an arm around her and she played with his fingers as he talked. Gwen kind of listened to his story, but mostly she just stared at how comfy the girl looked sitting in his lap with his arms around her.

She glanced over at Ben and tried to imagine how it would feel. It would be so easy to just slide over and find out. She glanced up and saw that he was looking at the couple, too. Then he saw her looking at him and they both turned away.

She couldn't stop wondering, though.

Maybe later. She made herself look back, and saw that the next person had already started with their story. "-walking through Washington back before my Dad got transferred out here. It was right after the whole Phoenix thing. We were walking next to this big brick building when the wall explodes. We thought it was the aliens again when all these guys in armor came spilling out. It was like a Renaissance Fair gone wild, except they were shooting at each other. Me and my buddies ran like hell, but I heard one of the guys shout that the true king had returned. Nut jobs."

The Forever Knights? Gwen wondered as she tapped her leg in thought. She glanced Ben and she saw the pinched look around his eyes that he always got when he was thinking. If they were in Washington, then...

Then what? They'd tried to copy the President once, but did that mean that they were trying again? And another king? She didn't even know how many that made now, or how many groups of knights there were. At least they were only hurting each other. She wanted to ask questions, but there was no good way to start. Besides, they were done with that stuff. They could tell Grandpa the next time they saw him, but that would be it.

She tried to make herself believe that. She'd been trying since June. If she really did, she knew she wouldn't be practicing her magic as often as she could.

A girl dressed as a zombie nurse said, "This happened right here in town a couple of weeks ago. I was out running when I saw an alien burst out of the alley in front of me. I don't know what they're called, but it was big and red with four arms and eyes. It just missed knocking me down, but the four cops that were chasing it made up for it. They knocked me over and tore my good jogging pants. They didn't even stop to check on me, they just kept going. Jerks."

It went on and on like that in the circle until finally Michelle was the last one left. The girl just looked at them all and grinned. "You want to know the freakiest thing I've ever seen? Do you really? Well..." She drew out the word as she pulled something small out of her pocket. She looked at them all and grinned. "The freakiest thing I've ever seen is you people trying to dance."

She pushed a button on the remote and the song Monster Mash filled the basement. Everyone else laughed and stood up. Everyone but Gwen and Ben. They just looked at each other. Michelle looked at them and shook her head as she nudged Gwen in the back. "Get going, Crazy. I know you've been dying to."

"But Ben wants to.." Gwen said as she fought with the butterflies again.

Ben stood up and held out his hand. "I have time to teach my Dweeb how to dance one time before I eat."

"Now you're really going to have to impress me, Doofus," Gwen said with a mock glare as she took his hand and let him lead her to the makeshift dance floor in the middle of the basement.

One dance turned into four. Maybe five. She couldn't tell if there was an actual break in the last two songs or if the fourth just let the beat keep going after the singing stopped. She tried to dance to it. She tried, but she couldn't. The beat was too random and quick. It went against everything she'd learned about dancing in the years of Cotillion she'd taken. There were rules to dance, she knew that. Rules to rhythm and tempo and beat and how to move to them all. Except this song ignored all of that and she couldn't make herself forget what she knew to go along with it.

It just wasn't her.

But it was so Ben. She watched him as he danced in front of her. It should have looked so ridiculous as he flailed around in his Kangaroo Commando costume. His every move went against what she'd learned. She tried for grace while he moved his arms almost at random as he used his old Mad Cow skills to the fullest. It should have looked beyond stupid, but it so didn't.

Of course Ben could dance to this music, it was as chaotic as he was. And it was wonderful to watch.

She heard the beat speed up and knew that either the song was about to end or everyone was going to collapse. As Ben reached out, she grabbed his hand and let him pull her closer. Close enough that they brushed against each other as they danced. Close enough that she could either kiss him or kick in his shins as she tried to copy his wild moves.

And then the song was over. Out there anyway, she could feel her heart pound as it tried to follow the vanished beat. She looked across the few inches that separated them and she wanted to feel his lips on hers again. A real kiss, not the little thing she'd given him at the start of the party. The only thing that stopped her was the certainty that her parents would somehow find out.

She hated herself for it.

Ben grinned at her and brushed his hand against her arm. "Told you I had moves." He was smug, a bit red and breathless.

She was baking in her unitard, she didn't know how he was surviving a full cowl. She ran her hand through her hair in sympathy and was surprised by how damp it felt. It was like she'd spent the last half hour practicing karate, not dancing. "Yeah. You're finally right about something, Doofus."

"I'm always right." His stomach rumbled. "And hungry. I'm gonna grab something."

"Get me a water?"

"What do I look like, your slave?" Ben asked as he faked a glare. "Make me, Dweeb."

She stuck out her lip in a pout. "Please, Ben? Be my hero?" It was sad how fast he cracked. He shook his head and walked to the tables by the stairs. She waited until he was almost out of earshot to add, "Go slave."

He spun around and glared at her. "I'm going to lick the top of your bottle."

"Don't you dare! Gross!" She shouted at him, but he just grinned before he turned around and walked away. He ignored the confused looks they got, but she couldn't. She felt her cheeks go hot as she retreated to an empty looking spot by the wall and slumped down against it. She tucked her legs under her as she tried to catch her breath.

Tonight was so much fun, even if she was breaking every rule that her parents had given her. Dark room with the door closed. They weren't alone, but no one was paying any attention. She looked around and saw the other few couples at the party. They were all older than her and Ben, but that didn't matter. Gwen watched them hold hands and kiss and cuddle and dance together and just felt sick with envy even though they'd done everything but kiss so far tonight.

But it was just for tonight. Next week it would be back to barely touching, barely talking. All because her body decided that she was growing up and her parents couldn't deal. She has one period and everyone freaks out. No fair.

She watched Ben as he fought his way to the front of the table. He already had the water bottles in hand, but he was reaching for something else now. She couldn't see what, but that wasn't what she was looking at. The Kangaroo Commando on TV was twenty years past the point where tights were a good idea for anyone, but for Ben... it wasn't.

She watched him for a bit more, then she closed her eyes for just a second. The second went on a lot longer than she had planned. The next thing she knew she was listening to him as he walked up to her. He sat down just close enough to bump his knee against her leg. She didn't know when they started doing that, but it was during that first summer. All it meant was 'I'm here' when one of them was too freaked out to talk. Or too sleepy. She bumped him back as he put something on her lap. She sniffed and her stomach rumbled when she smelled the aroma of warm pizza.

She opened her eyes, peaking down at the pizza on a paper plate and water bottle in her lap. It was her favorite: pineapple and ham. She picked up the bottle and looked at it and then at him. He didn't even glance over as he ate his slice. "Did you really lick it?" She wanted to sound angry, but she couldn't.

"I licked everything."

She shook her head and stared at the food. She knew he didn't really. And if he did, all the kissing had to have made her immune to his cooties by now. "I didn't ask for the food."

"I know, but you're hungry and I don't want you to steal mine."

She so would have. She might still. Stolen pizza tasted the best, after all. "Thank you."

He shrugged. "Its just pizza."

"It not-" she started to snap, but she caught herself. Her heart pounded in her chest again as she stared at him. "It so-" she tried to find the words, but she couldn't. She stared at him for a moment more, just long enough to finally make up her mind, and then she put her plate on the ground next to her. "I'll be right back."

She stood up and walked away before he could say anything. It only took a few minutes to find Michelle in the middle of a group. "No. I don't care what you say you saw, the ghost didn't follow Emma home and she sure didn't bring it here." She shook her head and was about to say more when she saw Gwen. "Hold on. I have to go talk to someone sane. Well, saner." She broke free of the crowd and grabbed Gwen by the arm to drag her to a quiet spot. "What's wrong?"

"I've had enough. I'm ready." Gwen said. Her throat was so dry that it hurt when she talked, and her stomach felt packed with butterflies, but she forced the words out anyway.

Michelle hugged her. "Finally. I was starting to think I'd have to smack some sense into you. It'll all be okay, Gwen. You'll see."

Gwen wanted to believe her, but she couldn't. She glanced over at Ben, who was watching them both and starting to look worried. "Did you find one?"

Michelle coughed and wouldn't meet her eyes. "Kinda. It's in the machine."

"Kinda? How do you kinda find music?"

"Hey, you try to find something Halloweeny. I did the best I could. You can dance to it. Just let me know when you're ready."

Gwen nodded and swallowed down a dry nothing as she made herself walk back to Ben. "You've got your thinking face on again," Ben said as he stared up at her. His plate was on the floor next to hers and there was still a slice of pizza on it. She'd never seen him stop eating pizza before.

"I have a face when I think?"

"Its kind of squinty. I can see you making it through your eye holes."

She shook her head and held out her hand. "Come on. One more dance. A real one. So you can prove how good you are."

Ben eyed her hand for a second before he took it and stood up. "OK. But I'm pretty incredible at everything now."

She thought of a half a dozen comebacks. Most of them involving his ego and its amazing expansion. Instead all she said was, "I know."

"So what's the song? More techno? That was a crazy one. Or just Halloween?"

"Slow."

"Slow?" Ben asked, and his ego seemed to have left the building a little all on its own with that one word.

"I want the dance that Lucy stole from me," She was still just a little bitter about that, and not just because she would have been an awesome flower girl. "You remember how, right?"

"Of course I do," Ben said with a nod. "I do what you tell me."

"Good boy," Gwen said with a grin as he glared at her. The glare faded when she took his hand and put it on her hip just like she had back then. She remembered how weird it felt back in the Rust Bucket when she was teaching him how. She'd expected weird, though. She never thought that it was going to start to feel right as he learned the steps. Sometimes she wondered what would have happened if Grandpa hadn't walked in...

Now - now it didn't feel weird at all. She went to take his hand, but she changed her mind and ripped off her gloves first. She stuffed one inside the other and threw it over by their pizzas. She wiped her palms on her unitard as she glanced at his hands. "Please?"

Ben gave her a very weird look, but he took off his gloves, too. His throw landed right next to his plate. She put his hands back where they belonged and gave his a little squeeze as the room got warm again. Much better without the gloves. "Just remember. One, two, three," she said. She nodded over at Michelle and the music started. "One, tw – You picked the theme music for Jurassic Park?" She shouted across the basement.

"You try to find a Halloween song to slow dance to!" Michelle shouted back.

Gwen glared at her friend, and then at Ben when she heard him bite down a laugh. "What's so funny?"

"You just roared," Ben said. "I'm wondering if I should get the lawyers out of here."

"Such a Doofus," She said, but she couldn't help grinning at him. It only took a couple of seconds to get back into rhythm. The music wasn't what she expected, but it wasn't all that bad either. He only stepped on her foot once as they moved across the dance floor. Gwen thought she saw some of the other couples come up to join them, but she couldn't tell. She couldn't take her eyes off of Ben's long enough to check.

"I've been thinking," Gwen said as they danced a little faster to keep up with the music. "I've been thinking about something for the last three weeks. Ever since..."

Ben looked miserable as his eyes went to the floor. "I know I was stupid for yelling at Dad. And for falling asleep next to you. I didn't mean to. Not that it would have helped if my parents had found us-"

"I wish they had."

Ben stopped and so she did too even though the music kept playing. "What?"

"I wish they had. That's what I've been thinking. I wish they had. I wish they could have seen how you made me feel better just by sitting with me. I wish they could have seen just how comfy I was when I woke up with you next to me. Or seen how many times I woke up the next night because you weren't there and I kept forgetting that you weren't supposed to be. Or just watched you bring me a couple of slices of pizza because you knew I was hungry. I wish they could have seen us." Her eyes burned and everything went blurry, but she still didn't take her off of him.

"They're already making our lives hell," Ben said as he suddenly became responsible. Once it would have made her so mad because she was sure that he just did it to pick a fight. Once, but she knew he'd been worrying about this, too. Besides, this was how it worked between them. "They'll freak..."

"They're already freaking. We've done everything they've ever told us to and - and I don't care if they're happy anymore. I want us to be happy. Its been three months and I'm tired of having to skulk around to spend time with you. Let them try to keep me from my hero. I'm tired of hiding."

And she finally did what she wanted to do all night. She kissed him and it didn't matter who was watching.


	5. Chapter 5: Last Day of Summer

Chapter 5: Last Day of Summer

November 11, 2000

"I remember when you two used to have shame," Michelle said with a proud sigh as she stretched out a little bit more across the bench.

"Used to?" Gwen answered with a smile as she ran her fingers through Ben's hair. Her smile still just a bit nervous as she watched the other shoppers walked passed them on their way through the outdoor mall. Michelle claimed the bench while Gwen and Ben sat on the little wall behind it. Well, she sat, he was sprawled out across the short wall with his head on her leg. There were big bushes on either side of the bench so only the people who walked directly past could see them, but that was still a lot. It was Saturday and the place was crowded. Only a few even bothered to glance over, though. The few that did either smiled or frowned, but she didn't recognize any of them. She knew most of her parents friends from their dinner parties, but only some of her aunt and uncle's.

Any of the people who did see them could be running off to tell Ben's parents right now. She almost bumped him to make him open his eyes and look, too, but it didn't really matter. She knew she said that she didn't care if someone saw them, and she meant it, but...

It was easier to say than do. Still, she'd manage.

Somehow.

She'd tried to stop worrying, but she wasn't as good at it as Ben was. No one was as good at not worrying as Ben. She wanted to glare down at him for leaving her to worry alone, especially when she saw his little grin, but she didn't. Both because he looked comfortable and because glaring would do less than nothing. He'd have to see her glare for it to matter and he refused to open his eyes. He finished his soda and decided to stretch out about ten minutes ago. She'd let out a little squawk of protest when he put his head on her leg, but he just grinned and closed his eyes.

Michelle was even less helpful. All she did was spin around and stretch her legs out on the newly empty bench. Though she at least said she was sorry when she bumped her feet against Gwen's as she claimed the little space between Gwen's feet and the back of the bench.

So between the two of them she was stuck right where she was. Not that she minded. There were certain advantages. She'd been running her fingers through Ben's hair for the last five minutes as she searched for any new bumps from his championship soccer game yesterday. It was way more thrilling watching him play than the pro game she'd tried to watch, but she winced whenever he used his head to block a goal.

She knew he had a hard head, he'd proven that so many times before soccer was even his thing, but she still worried that all of her hard work was getting knocked around. It didn't help that the second he was done getting his award he ran over and said, "Gwen no worry. Me no brain my damage,' when she asked if he was okay.

She would have hit him so hard if she wasn't busy hugging him. Still, everything looked good. She'd only found one good goose egg after a few minutes of looking, but she kept running her fingers over his scalp anyway because she might have missed something. She was just doing it to make sure he wasn't hurt, not because she liked the feeling of the mess he called hair slipping through her fingers.

No, not her.

And she certainly wasn't doing it because it was her chance to give him the attention she couldn't yesterday. She'd been so proud when Ben came running over with the MVP trophy around his neck that she almost kissed him right then. The fact that he was all stinky and sweaty from the game didn't matter at all. Neither did the fact that both of their parents were right behind her. At least not for a second. Then she just brushed her lips on his cheek and hugged him as hard as he made fun before his parents and Grandpa Max took their turn.

The hug lasted maybe five seconds. It wasn't enough for either of them.

"I don't need shame. I'm a sports legend. I've got the medal at home to prove it," Ben said. Gwen thought he'd fallen asleep ages ago, and she felt her cheeks flush a little when she realized that he'd felt her running her fingers through his hair all this time.

And he'd never stopped smiling.

"Shame and modesty," Michelle said. Gwen saw her glance up before she shook her head. "You used to have both."

Gwen tried to remember her Doofus ever being the least bit modest and couldn't. "He so didn't."

"But you did, Crazy. Now look at you pawing at your boy in public," Michelle said with that smirk she always got when she watched them. She gave her soda one last stab with the straw before she set it down next to her. She always waited for the ice to melt before she threw the cup away.

"Don't blame her," Ben said. His eyes were still closed, but Gwen could see them darting around under his eyelids. "You're the one who talked her into giving in to my manly charms at Halloween."

Michelle looked at Gwen, who could only shrug. "He's not lying."

Michelle closed her eyes and leaned her head against the arm of the bench. "I made monsters. Now I know how Frankenstein felt." She yawned and leaned her head against the arm of the bench. Gwen watched her close her eyes, too.

Gwen shook her head and stared at the two of them. If she didn't say a word they would both be asleep in a couple of minutes even with people staring at them. She wanted to let them, but - "Come on, Doofus. Grandpa's expecting us over for dinner."

"You heard him yesterday. He'd not going anywhere until Christmas." Ben said.

Grandpa Max was finally back in town and was expecting them all over for dinner in just a bit.

Grandpa never even let them know he was back in town. He just showed up on the field with his usual grin like he hadn't been gone for weeks. They'd both been so surprised to see him that he'd had to pry them off so Ben could go play. They'd tried to find out what he was up to when he called, but all he would say was that they didn't have to worry. Then he showed up yesterday and said everything was fine and he'd be home at least until Christmas.

It was still weeks away and it was already the best Christmas ever.

She had so much to tell him, but she never had a chance to talk. She'd been too excited by the game while Ben played. She had hoped that she and Ben would have a chance to talk to him after, but Uncle Carl took everyone out to dinner to celebrate Ben's win. They went to one of her favorite restaurants, but she didn't remember the food at all. All she really remembered about it was that Ben sat on the complete other end of the table from her and that she'd barely been able to say a word to either him or Grandpa.

Sometimes she thought that the only good thing that would come out of them telling their parents was that they might be able to sit together at dinners like that. And that the next time one of them won something they could do more than share a quick if stinky hug.

She tried not to remember that she had her karate tournament next Friday and Ben said he'd be there. If she just told her parents then maybe...

Maybe they'd just go a little crazy.

She looked down at him and realized that she didn't have to wait. She'd done her best to make up for yesterday already, but she could still get a head start on next week. She bent over and almost giggled when she saw his eyes fly open. Kissing worked a lot better at getting his attention than yelling at him. Too bad she didn't know that during their first road trip.

"What?" he asked when she finally pulled back and he sounded just a bit out of it.

She almost told him about next week, but instead she gave his shoulders a little shove. "Come on, Sleeping Beauty. Grandpa's got dinner waiting for us."

It had been so long that she almost missed Grandpa Max's cooking. Almost. Not as much as she missed talking to him, though. He must have missed them, too, because he asked them over for dinner tonight while Ben's dad paid the bill yesterday. Gwen was only a little surprised that no one tried to say that they couldn't go.

She was so looking forward to it, but that was Saturday night and not even she wanted to waste a whole Saturday waiting. Not when there was a mall only a couple of miles away from both Ben's house and Grandpa's new RV park. Her mom wouldn't take her, but Michelle's would. She felt a little bad about dragging her friend into this until Michelle reminded her that it was a mall.

And Grandpa didn't mind at all that he needed to set an extra place for dinner. Gwen was pretty sure he was looking forward to finally getting a chance to talk her friend after hearing so much. He'd been hinting at it ever since he met Michelle during Ben's last karate tournament. Met, not talked to. Sensei hated it when people talked during tournaments. And she was looking forward to seeing Michelle's face when she tried Grandpa's gumbo. So she got to spend the whole day hanging out and all it took was a night of coordinating lies on the phone. She knew she should feel guilty about that, but she didn't.

So didn't.

Instead she looked at Ben and Michelle and wondered if this was what normal felt like. Just a warm day in the sun spending time with her boyfriend and her best friend. Well, normal until they tried Grandpa Max's cooking, anyway.

She poked Ben again. "Come on."

Ben yawned and shook his head as he closed his eyes again. "In a bit. I'm comfy."

"I can make you get up, you know," Gwen said.

"Can not," Ben murmured back without looking. He just crossed his arms over his chest and tucked his hands under his armpits to protect his weak points.

Gwen knew he was waiting for a tickle attack as revenge for all the times he'd gotten her lately, but she had different plans. Instead she went for the one thing he was always afraid of. A shower. She reached over and grabbed her cup. She held it over his face and her voice went all sing-song as she whispered, "Can too."

Ben didn't even look, though he squirmed a little. Michelle looked, not that Gwen knew it until she heard her friend let out a little hiss of surprise before she yanked her knees to her chest to get her legs out of the splash zone.

It must have been the hiss that made Ben opened his eyes. He winced for a second when he saw the threat before he stuck out his tongue. "You won't."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm too adorable!" He said with the biggest, smarmiest smile he could manage.

It was just too bad of a line for her to let it go unpunished. She flipped the cup over and he yelped as he sat up, but not before a single drop of melted ice water dripped down and caught him between the eyes. He brushed at his face for a second before he realized he wasn't soaked. He spun around on his butt and crossed his legs so he could glare at her. She shook her head. "Please, Doofus. Like I'm going to ruin my dress."

Not the powder blue one she'd always thought looked so good on her anyway. She didn't have to get dressed up today. Not for a trip to the mall and especially not for dinner at Grandpa Max's. She just wanted to. Besides, it was getting a little tight and she wanted to wear it one more time before she couldn't anymore.

The fact that it was the one she'd worn on her first date with her Doofus didn't matter at all.

That's what she told herself anyway, but she still remembered the look on his face when he saw her in it and she always wondered if he would only ever look at her like that once. He didn't. His mouth still dropped just a little when he saw her today, and he got all stammery again for a good ten minutes. She would have been so thrilled if she wasn't doing the same thing. She never expected him to get dressed up, too. She expected to see him in his ratty old jeans and his new green and black lucky shirt. Instead he showed up wearing a nice pair of black pants and a dark green shirt. They were even clean.

She would have stared longer if Michelle had not grabbed them both by the hands and dragged them to the first store.

"Lame," Ben muttered as he wiped his forehead even as his eyes darted over her dress and she felt just a little warm under his gaze. "I was going to get up."

"Well, I was going to get a milkshake. A chocolate one. I could have dumped THAT on your head," Gwen said, and she grinned as she imagined him with a face covered in chocolate ice cream.

"If you did," Ben said as he slid a little closer, "I would have just wiped it off on you."

"Better not," Gwen said in a little huff as she brushed her hair from her face and bit her lip.

"So would," Ben said as he leaned over to kiss her. When they finally pulled apart she blinked at him a few times because he was giving her an odd look. Happy and just a bit nervous, and his eyes were huge as he stared at her. She didn't think anything of it, he was so immature compared to her after all. She only blushed a little at the attention before she shook her head and looked down to see his hand on her knee.

His hand was on her knee.

He must have put it there when he was kissing her and she never even noticed. Until now. Now it was all she noticed. It wasn't even on her dress. Her dress was only knee-length and it must have been pushed up a little when he was lying on her leg. She wasn't even wearing tights today. His hand was on her bare knee.

She could feel every bit of his hand against her now. She even thought she could feel his pulse, or hers and she had no idea what to do. They'd held hands and kissed, but that was it. They'd kissed a lot more since Halloween when she stopped worrying about someone seeing them. A lot more, but...

But his hand was on her knee.

She wished her heart would stop pounding because she wanted to think and her pulse was too loud in her ears to concentrate. Kissing him could make her grin for what felt like forever. She'd never even thought...

"Weird?" Ben asked in a very, very strangled voice. She heard the worry in his voice and she knew his smile was gone.

She wanted to say something, but she couldn't. She licked her lips because her mouth was beyond dry and she wished she had not wasted the last bit of her drink on a joke. Instead she just nodded once in a very small move as she stared at his hand.

His hand twitched, but it still didn't move. The back of his thumb was brushing against the hem of her skirt. If he moved it just a little...

"Bad weird?" She had to strain to hear him whisper the question.

She couldn't think. She could barely breathe as she stared at his hand. Neither of them moved. It was like she was frozen, or paralyzed. His hand felt so hot on her leg. She KNEW that all she had to do was move her leg a little and he would let go. She knew it. She knew him. If it was anyone else...

But it wasn't. It was her Doofus. Her Ben.

And she couldn't figure out was if she even wanted him to move his hand. It was beyond weird and made her feel all tingly, but it didn't feel bad. Or wrong. Neither moved for a long moment before she shook her head. "Not bad weird," she said and her voice was barely loud enough to hear. She heard him let out a breath as they sat there. Then his thumb kind of twitched against her leg and she jumped at the sudden change.

His hand flew back like she'd started a fire under it. "Sorry," he said. His voice was still a whisper and he didn't look at her. "I... sorry." He said as he shook his head. The last word came out in a cracking squeak and he turned redder. It was the first time his voice had cracked in weeks, and despite everything she still thought it was cute.

"Don't... I was – it was – I was just surprised. Not.. it felt... not..." she said in a babble. She swallowed as hard as she could and wished that the sun wasn't so hot today. It felt like July, not November, all of a sudden and her heart wouldn't slow down at all. She reached down to pull her hem back over her knee, but she couldn't. She fretted at the hem of her dress as she stared at her kneecap. She could almost still feel his hand there.

She almost still wanted to.

She didn't understand it at all. She tried to swallow again before she remembered how dry her mouth was. It felt like she hadn't drunk anything at all today even though her empty cup was sitting right next to her. "Michelle? Can I have some of your ice?" she asked. Her voice sounded wrong to her as she talked. Lower. Not like her at all.

She saw Ben twitch a little from out of the corner of her eye as she asked and his blush got deeper, but he didn't say a word. And neither did Michelle.

"Michelle?" She asked again as she looked up. The cup was still there, but her friend was gone. She looked up and down the sidewalk. There were a dozen people around, but none of them were Michelle.

"Maybe she went to the bathroom?" Ben asked. His voice sounded wrong, too. It sounded deeper except for the few times it tried to crack. It sounded off, but she felt her heart start racing again just from him talking.

She had no idea why and she couldn't think with him sitting next to her.

"Maybe," Gwen said even though neither of them really believed it. Probably. It wasn't like anything much happened in Bellwood. A mugger, a bank robber, the occasional fire. They barely had to do anything in town even when Ben still wore the watch, but weird things could still happen. Weird things happened often enough around them before. To them and the people around them.

And Michelle was always around.

"We could go look," Ben said. He sounded more like himself now. This was a crisis, and they both knew what to do in a crisis.

Gwen nodded. She probably nodded a little too much. She stood up and hopped off the bench. Her dress billowed up a little around her legs before she slapped her hands down. She'd forgotten about that, and she felt herself start to blush again. "I'll go right, you go left. Call if you find her."

She saw him nod and start to stand. He made it about half way before he sat right back down. "I'll stay here just in case she comes back."

"Ben! I know you don't like her, but," she shouted at him out of habit. She spun around to glare at him. She thought he would look bored, or not caring.

Instead he sat there hunched over with his arms over his lap. His face was bright red and he wouldn't look at her at all, which just made her madder. "Not it. So not it. Just let me wait a couple of minutes. If she's not back I'll go look. Okay Dw-Gwen. Please?"

She tapped her foot as she glared at him until he looked more miserable. Good. "No, it's not okay. What's your problem, Doof-" Not miserable, embarrassed. She stared at him for another second before that brain she was always bragging about finally kicked in and her eyes darted down at his lap. She couldn't see anything under his arms, but the Talk her mother had given her went through her head.

Oh, God.

Her hands went to her mouth as her eyes darted to his lap again before she could stop them. "I'll go check!" She said, her voice was a squeak that barely made it past her fingers before she spun around and hurried away. She was trying to find her friend. She kept telling herself that even though it felt a lot more like she was running away.

Oh, God. He got a ... Just from touching her knee?

She couldn't wrap her mind around it. Around any of it. He touched her knee and it felt... not wrong. So not wrong. God, that had been confusing enough. Why did he have to...?

She made herself look in each store as she walked by. She had to make herself, because if she didn't she knew she could have walked right into Michelle now and not notice. To make things worse, the Talk kept going through her head. Her mother had a folder and a notebook all ready. It felt more like a science class than anything else, so she knew exactly what was going on with her and Ben's bodies by the end.

Which meant she knew way too much about Ben's... problem. Her mom went through it all even though Gwen wanted to beg her not to when she started talking about boys - things. She'd almost blurted out Ben's name once before she caught herself just out of nerves. She had to force herself to think of something else before her cheeks burst into flame. She knew all the biological bits now thanks to her Mom, but...

But the whole time Mom was talking, Gwen wished that Aunt Sandra was there. She loved her mom, but... but she didn't understand that the biology was the easy stuff. It was everything else that was confusing.

And Mom didn't deal with the everything else.

Her mom made it a lecture. She couldn't shake the feeling that it might have been an actual talk with Aunt Sandra. With questions and answers. She would have asked, Aunt Sandra said she could if she needed anything, but... but how do you go up to your boyfriend's mother and...?

It was too awkward to even think about. She was sure that if she had actually tried that much awkwardness all in one place might have collapsed the universe.

But she still had so many questions. She'd never been more embarrassed, both for her and for him, but - but there were other things running through her head besides being embarrassed. Things she knew couldn't be right.

Just from touching her knee? Really?

Why did that make her want to smile, just a little? Or glance back at him? What was wrong with her?

And why did she feel so warm and tingly?

Gwen made it all the way to the end of the mall without finding Michelle and was actually starting to worry when her cellphone went off. She actually jumped from the sudden noise. She opened it up and saw a small message from Ben. 'Found her. Sunglasses Hut.'

She looked back and sighed. She'd gone the complete wrong way. The Hut was only a couple of stores the other way. For a second she wondered why it took him so long to find her, and then she remembered. She remembered and she had to sit. Thankfully there was another bench, but she would have sat on the ground if she had to.

Her knee? She lifted her dress a little to look at it, but it didn't look like anything special to her. She even brushed her fingers across it and it kind of tickled, but it didn't make her all tingly. It didn't feel anything like it did when Ben...

She sat there with her head in her hands as she tried to suck in air and figure out what was wrong with her. She couldn't find the answer, so she waited until she felt almost like normal before she got up and made her way back to the store. It lasted until she opened the door and saw Ben and then her heart started racing all over again. He was standing and looking at a display of sunglasses with Michelle. She saw him shake his head in confusion and heard him ask, "You're looking for the ugliest ones?"

"That's the game. Gwen and I do it all the time when we're out shopping. Ugly shoes, clothes, art. Its more fun and feels way less bad when we have to leave it behind," Michelle said. She had her head down and she didn't even glance over at Ben. So not her.

"But," Ben started to say before he shook his head. "What's the ugliest thing you've found?"

"There was this bright yellow trench coat Gwen tried on once. It made her look like a giant lit match with her hair. Horrible," her friend shook and Gwen winced at the memory. That coat was ugly even for their game and she forgot there were pictures.

"And you have it on film?" Ben asked. Gwen knew that tone of voice. He was looking for blackmail. She tapped her foot as she tried to figure out how much trouble he was in. She settled on so much.

"I'll get you a copy. It'll make up for some of the stuff she's told me about YOU."

"What stuff?" Ben asked as he stood up straight and started looking around.

"No stuff!" Gwen said as she rushed over. "I haven't said anything!"

The two spun around. Michelle looked a little guilty but Ben was glaring. "What stuff?" He repeated.

"No stuff!" Gwen repeated. So much stuff. Michelle knew almost everything. Except for the hero stuff.

"Furry Freddy." Michelle said, and her eyes gleamed with those two words.

Ben let out a little breath and looked way too relieved. "My old teddy bear?"

"The one in Gwen's bedroom for now?" Michelle said and Gwen felt her cheeks flush. "I've heard all about him, and about how you two keep passing him back and forth. So cute." She let the last two words die as she turned back to the glasses. It was not like her at all to let a tease go like that. She glanced at Ben and he kind of shrugged. Even he knew something was wrong, but she wasn't talking. Not to him, anyway.

"So we find the ugliest?" Ben asked as he glanced at Gwen and nodded at the other side of the store. She gave him a grateful smile.

"Yup," Michelle said.

He nodded and pointed to the other side of the store. "Some ugly ones over there. I'll go check." He glanced at Gwen again. Actually, he glanced down at her legs and he blushed. She would have said something, but she glanced down, too.

Just from touching her knee.

And this time she did kind of smile.

Ben all but ran after that. She wanted to chase after, but she had no idea what to say. Not to Ben anyway. "Why did you run off?"

"I thought you two could use some space," Michelle said as she grabbed up a pair of sunglasses that were tinted green and had plastic turtle legs attached to the sides. She shook her head and the legs shook on their springs. "What do you think?"

"Turtles are never ugly," Gwen said as firmly as she could. "And since when?"

"This might surprise you, Crazy, but sometimes watching you two make moon eyes at each other gets a little..." her voice faded off when she saw herself in the mirror. "You're right, too cute."

Gwen rubbed the back of her head to by herself time to think. Things had been going so well and she had no idea how everything had gotten confusing all the sudden. It was weird enough for her, but she never even thought that it might be a bit strange for Michelle, too. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking-"

Michelle sighed as she looked for another pair. "You don't have to be sorry, Crazy. I'm just a little jealous. Not your fault. Well, not entirely."

"But, jealous? Why?"

And Michelle just stared at her in disbelief. She stared for so long that Gwen squirmed before she shook her head. "Clueless. For someone so smart..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gwen asked as she crossed her arms.

"Come on. Do you really think that I wouldn't like a sweetie, too? For someone to make out with, or to feel me up a little? Especially after watching you two go at it right next to me all day?"

"He didn't..." Gwen blushed and her eyes darted around the store. The only other people inside were Ben and the clerk. The clerk wasn't even looking at them. She had a magazine and a look of complete disinterest. Ben was on the other side of the store and not even glancing over.

"No," Michelle rolled her eyes, "I know. Touching your knee doesn't count. Not really. But still..." Michelle shook her head as she looked at the displays. "Sometimes I think it must be nice. And that I should call you Lucky Girl because the name fits you way better. I would if you weren't so crazy."

"Not crazy."

"Not sane," Michelle countered. "No one sane would be talking to me instead of..." Her voice faded away. She really was jealous. Gwen took a bit of a breath. This – this she might know how to deal with. She looked at the sunglasses while her mind raced. Gwen pulled down a pair of sunglasses that were tinted yellow and had bright yellow plastic around them to make them look like cartoon suns. She held them up and Michelle hissed as she took them. "These are horrible."

"I know."

"Not me at all." She put them on and made a face when she saw herself in the mirror. "Perfect."

"Justin in math has been watching you," Gwen said. She'd seen him a few times, and he seemed okay enough. He said hi and he went so red when she caught him looking at her friend. "I could ask around, see if he's crushing..."

And if he was...

Well, a double date might be fun. And after that...

"I know that look, Crazy. Knock it off before you start planning the wedding."

Gwen glanced away. "Not."

"Then I caught you in time," Michelle said and she bumped against Gwen. "Justin, hm? He isn't as much of a loser as the rest, I guess. Though..." Her eyes went to Gwen and she tapped her chin. "Well, there is something I've wanted to ask you."

"What?"

"You don't have any more cousins, do you?"

"Michelle!" Gwen shouted in a happy squeal as she shoved Michelle away.

Michelle laughed and caught herself after a step. "Not even one?"

"A few." Gwen finally admitted. She tried to imagine her friend working on a farm and just couldn't. Michelle didn't even want to help in her mom's garden. "None of them are like my Doofus, though."

"Figures. All the good ones are either taken or family," she said with a sigh. She went back to the sunglasses, but glanced over to add, "Or both."

"Michelle!" This time Ben definitely looked over that time.

"Just playing with you." Michelle shook her head as she went back to looking. "Justin?" She shook her head, but she didn't seem all that put out by the idea. She even played around with her long black hair a little as she looked in the mirror.

"Wear it up," Gwen said as she wondered how long it would take her to grow her hair that long, and if it would look as good. Michelle nodded and pulled it back in a high pony tail with her hands before she let it go. Gwen would definitely have to start asking around on Monday. She saw Ben walk up and grinned just a little. "So lucky, Crazy Girl," she heard Michelle mutter.

Ben glanced at them both as he held up a pair of baby blue sunglasses. "Here. Here's the ugliest." He looked at Michelle and added, "Except for those."

"Winning!" Gwen said, and Michelle stuck out her tongue. She took the glasses from Ben and looked at them. They were huge. They were way too big for any of their faces, and the sides of the frames came to a point that looked like they could put someone's eyes out. "Horrible."

"Hideous," Michelle agreed. "Put them on."

Gwen did. She looked at herself in the mirror and shuddered. "Can you believe someone got paid to design these?"

"Beyond ugly." Michelle nodded. "They are so you. I'm buying them."

"You are not!"

"I'm buying them and you have to wear them!"

"No!" She looked at Ben for help.

He just shrugged and enjoyed this way too much. "They're a gift. You have to. That's the rules. That's what you tell me every time Aunt Vera makes me something."

Gwen shook her head again, but she knew she lost. Darn rules. "For a while."

"Until we see Grandpa," Ben said as he grinned. "He'll think they're great."

Gwen just sighed because he so would. They looked like something from the fifties and Grandpa Max's shirts proved that his fashion sense ended back then. "He'll laugh."

"He'll want a pair," Ben said with a grin. A grin that faded as what he said sank in. "Maybe we shouldn't..."

Michelle reached over and yanked the sunglasses off of Gwen's head. "Too late!" Gwen tried to get them back even as she burst out laughing, but she didn't try all that hard and Ben didn't help at all. Well, not her. He wrapped his arms around her stomach to hold her in place while Michelle ducked and ran to the register. The clerk didn't look the least bit amused and that only made Gwen laugh harder.

She stopped fighting when she saw Michelle pull out money. Instead she spun herself around in Ben's arms and watched him grin. His smile faded just a little when he saw her looking. She felt his hands start to slide away until she wrapped hers around him. His face got red as he looked away. "About before - I didn't mean to... I can't really..."

She watched him babble and wished she knew what to say. She wanted to say she wasn't mad, or scared, just confused. "It was just a knee. Why?" She never thought about them any different until he touched her knee. He'd even touched her legs before when she was hurt and she couldn't reach, or when he had to knock her over before the latest monster blasted her. It never felt like... It had been almost twenty minutes but she could still feel his hand on her and she didn't know why. Or why her knees felt wobbly as he held her.

He shook his head and for a second he looked as confused as she felt. Then his eyes were on hers and his pupils were huge again. When he finally managed to speak, his voice sounded off again. "Not just any, Dweeb. Just yours."

She wanted to ask more questions, but she ran out of words. Not that she could have said anything with her lips on his. She kind of wished they were sitting so she could see if his hand on her leg would feel as weird the second time, but his hand on the back of her neck felt just as good.

"Okay, I'm starting to think that you want to get caught," Michelle said after what only felt like a few seconds. They pulled apart and Gwen gasped in breath. She looked at him and worried.

Because every time they kissed now, she wanted it to stop less. And she knew the thoughts going through her head now were wrong. She'd seen his leg yesterday. It had been gross with mud and grass after the game. He was so gross that his parents drove him home just to get cleaned up before they went out to eat. There was no way she'd ever even think about wanting to touch them.

Until now.

She looked at him, and for the briefest of seconds she understood all the new rules her parents came up with. And that maybe...

Maybe they weren't being completely stupid.

Then she came back to her senses. She took her sunglasses back from Michelle and slipped them on without a word. She was only a little surprised when she handed a pair to Ben, too. Ben glanced down and grinned. "Awesome." He slipped them on. It was a pair of dark green star-shaped glasses. "I should have had these on during the game just so everyone knew who the best was."

"I hope you're proud," Gwen said to Michelle from over Ben's shoulder as he spun them around to look at himself in the mirror. "His head could barely contain his ego as it was."

"Yeah. Blame the glasses, Crazy. They're the problem. Can we go eat?"

Gwen nodded. She wasn't the least bit hungry, but she would be soon. She looked at Ben and sighed. He was staring at himself in the mirror and nodding as he said, "That's right. I'm the best."

She stopped hugging him just so she could wrap both of her hands around his arm and pull. He fought just enough to make her work for it before he followed after. She let go with one hand and slid the other down to take his. And in that short move her breath caught. He was so right. It wasn't just an arm. It was his arm and somehow that made it different. She'd touched it dozens of times, but... but things were different. She had no idea why or how or why now, but it was.

And that was just his arm. She didn't let herself think about it, but she blushed anyway.

"Told you," he said in a whisper.

She could just nod as her heart started pounding again. So many questions. Everything felt different and she didn't know why. She followed Ben and Michelle out the door almost in a trance.

"You two can make googly eyes at each other later. I'm hungry," Michelle said and she ruined the moment.

Gwen could have hugged her. Instead she shook her head. "Grandpa Max's cooking will take care of that." And maybe, maybe she should have a talk with him after. Maybe it was time to tell their parents before something happened. No. Ben first, then Grandpa. If she could get him alone for a couple of minutes...

It would just be more trouble. Which wouldn't stop her.

They started walking. Gwen kept her hand in Ben's while Michelle circled around them. "I've heard all the stories, Crazy, but his cooking can't be that bad. I've eaten some weird stuff following Dad from country to country. I've had English food. Nothing he makes can beat that."

"Those weren't stories," Gwen said. "Those were warnings. Dire warnings. Ben and I almost starved that first summer."

"I've had things stuffed in a sheep's stomach," Michelle said.

"We've had grubs," Gwen countered. "Taken from under a log."

"Well, I've had blood pudding."

"And we've had tongue."

"And I've-" The three of them walked and argued through the mall and half way to the R.V. park before Michelle finally spun around and stomped her foot. "Well, I've had dog!"

"Dog," Ben said with a jealous sigh and it was all Gwen could do to not laugh. "We would have killed for dog after a solid week of eating sea cucumbers."

Gwen nodded and made a face. "Do you know what's the worst thing about sea cucumber? No matter what you do to it, it still tastes like sea cucumber."

"You two did not!" Michelle said with another desperate stomp of her foot. "There's no way..."

"Grandpa knew a guy," Gwen said. Grandpa got enough that he ate it for a week while she and Ben lived on grilled cheese sandwiches until they got enough money together for burgers. Best burgers ever.

"I don't believe this, I've been out-grossed by a couple of civs." Michelle said to herself. Gwen saw the worry in her friend's eyes. "Maybe we should have gotten food first."

"Too late now," Gwen said with a fake little sigh. She's made Grandpa promise that he'd cook something normal tonight. She was going to let Michelle worry until they got there, but...

But unlike some people she'd currently holding hands with, she knew when a joke had gone on long enough. Not that Ben was as bad as he used to be.

"You know, all this talk is starting to make me hungry," Ben said as he rubbed his stomach with his free hand.

Usually.

"There's no way," Michelle said and she looked green before she spun around and wrapped her arms around her stomach.

Gwen gave Ben a quick glare that wiped the smile off of his face. He rolled his eyes at her, but he said, "It's not going to be that-"

He never got a chance to finish. Michelle spun around and tackled them both. If Gwen had any warning at all she would have been able to dodge, but Michelle was way faster than she ever expected. One second she was standing, the next she was lying in a heap on the ground next to Ben with Michelle lying on top of the two of them.

"He's making-" Ben said as he turned just a little red.

"We were just-" Gwen started. She never got to the word playing. She never had a chance. The words caught in her throat as she watched something burning fall from the sky. She thought and brought her right hand up to twist shield spell around them. She would have used both, but her left was currently pinned in Ben's hand and under Michelle's stomach. The blue dome sprang to life over them just as the falling thing crashed into the empty field next to them.

She waited a second for whatever it was to explode before she dropped the shield.

The dome vanished just as Michelle opened her eyes again. "Everyone okay?" she asked from only inches away. She waited until everyone nodded before the started to untangle herself from the pile the three of them were in. She only blushed a little before she was free. Michelle swiped Gwen's little purse right off of her shoulder and yanked it open. "That had to have come from the base, Crazy. I gotta call my dad."

Gwen just nodded as she got to her feet. "What do you think?" she asked as Ben stood up next to her. She looked around while Ben watched the field. There wasn't anyone else around and nothing else was raining down on them. The only thing not field in sight was the thick line of trees that separated the field from Grandpa's RV park.

Gwen stared that way for a second as her stomach went tight. She'd only seen the thing fall for a second, but it came from that way.

Ben frowned a he followed her eyes. Then he started for the field. "Only one way to find out."

Gwen nodded and followed him into the field. She could feel the grass and mud making a mess of her legs, but it didn't matter. "Stay here, Michelle."

"Where are you going?" Michelle shouted after them. A second later Gwen heard the girl follow them into the grass, too. "There's crazy and then there's stupid," she heard her friend mutter.

Ben hurried ahead until Gwen called after him, "Hey, Doofus. No watch, remember?"

He gave her a dirty look as he rubbed his left wrist, but he slowed down enough for her to catch up.. He glanced at her as they made their way through the grass. He always tried to look so brave, but she could see the worry in his eyes. A worry that got worse as they got closer to whatever it was that was smoking.

It could be anything. A missile, a robot, or something she couldn't even imagine. She just knew it crashed too close to them and Grandpa. If it was something sent to hurt them...

She chanted up another shield spell in her head. She'd crush whatever it was before she'd let it hurt Ben or Grandpa.

Gwen expected a weapon, but she never heard a weapon let out a soft groan of pain before. She froze just a few feet away from the smoking grass when she saw something on fire and moving. Something she'd seen hundreds of times before.

"A Heatblast?" Gwen asked. It was shorter than the one Ben used to turn into, and seemed like it was almost burned out. When Ben used this shape he burned so bright that it hurt her eyes to look at him. This one's fire sputtered and sparked like a small campfire, which made it that much easier to see the green and black disk on it shoulder.

The Omnitrix.

"An alien?" Michelle asked, her voice sounded very far away. Gwen wanted to grab her friend and get her out of here, but she couldn't move.

It had the Omnitrix. Someone stole the Omnitrix.

"You were at my house?" Ben asked. His voice was a scared hiss as his hands went to fists. "My parents- They were home. What did you do to them?"

The alien didn't answer. It just groaned some more.

"What did you do to them!" Ben screamed and took a step forward.

Gwen felt the magic gather in her hands as her heart thumped in her ears. Uncle Carl and Aunt Sandra... This thing could have...

The alien rolled over and stared at them. It stared and said, "Please. I have to find Mr. Tennyson."


	6. Chapter 6: Trust

Authors notes: I want to thank Hapcelion for beta reading this. If there are any mistakes they are all mine. I also want to thank him for setting up a tropes page for Little Moments. You can find the link on my profile. It looks awesome, go check it out.

Also, I've had a few people talk to me about fan art for this story. If anyone else would like to, just let me know and I'll be more than happy to add links.

Chapter 6: Trust

"Come on, Crazy," Michelle muttered to herself as she ran after Gwen and Ben. She could see them maybe twenty feet ahead of her as they rushed through the field of browning grass to get to the smoking thing in the middle. "There's crazy and then there's just stupid."

And running towards whatever crashed definitely counted as stupid. It must have been a drone or a missile from the army base. Her father was going to be so mad at someone for this. Michelle barely got a look at whatever it was before it crashed, but she knew burning things falling from the sky weren't good. Ben and Gwen seemed to think it was safe just because whatever it was didn't go boom when it hit the ground. She knew better. Her Dad always said that no boom just meant no boom yet. He told her that over and over when they still lived on base. He also told her what would happen if he ever caught her messing with this stuff.

If he saw her now she wouldn't be able sit for a week if she was lucky. The fact that she was almost thirteen wouldn't matter at all. If anything, that would only make it worse because she should know better. The fact that she was only trying to protect her two stupid friends might. She didn't want to depend on a might.

If she was lucky she could get them all out of here before they got caught.

Or blown up.

Ben, she could understand. He was a boy. Something falls from the sky and of course he's going to want to take a look. He was probably going to poke it with a stick, too. Boys were kind of stupid like that. Michelle figured that out a long time ago. It was hard to grow up as an army brat and not know that.

Gwen should have known better. Michelle would have bet money that her friend knew better. She'd lost count of all the times Gwen gave her a dirty look when she crossed the street without waiting for the walk signal during their runs. It didn't matter to her at all that it was 5:30 in the morning and everyone sane was still in bed. Gwen should be standing on the side of the road with her and screaming at Ben to get out of the field.

Instead the girl was only a couple of steps behind him. Super smart, but no sense at all. The two didn't even hesitate to run into the field. Michelle was sure that she'd even seen the two smile just a little as they did.

Crazy. Both of them. They deserved each other.

Michelle ran as fast as she dared to catch up to them. She wished she could go all out, but there was so much junk on the ground that she was sure if she tried she would just trip. It was still fast enough that she could feel the grass whip at her legs as she ran. She was so glad she'd worn her jeans today. She'd almost changed when Gwen showed up at her door all dressed up for the day at the mall.

She had wanted to.

No, like she wanted to after she saw the look on Ben's face when he saw Gwen in the blue dress. For just a second she wished she'd worn a dress, too, just to see if Ben would have even noticed.

Or if he'd look at her like that, too.

Just once.

Michelle shoved that thought away and almost let out a sigh when she saw the two stop. They were even smart enough to stop a little away from whatever it was that crashed. At least they had THAT much common sense.

"What's wrong with you two?" Michelle started to shout as she finally caught up with them. She reached out to grab them both by their hands so she could drag them away. If they complained she'd smack some sense into them or break her hand trying.

Knowing them, her hand would be in a cast before the sun set. It would be worth it, though. So worth it.

She glanced down at whatever it was that crashed as the first word tried to leave her mouth. Tried to and failed. "An alien?" she asked, her voice a confused whisper.

It had to be. Michelle couldn't imagine what else the thing on the ground could be. It looked almost like someone had tried to make a person out of rock and fire. She was ten feet away, but the heat from its fire still made her sweat a little. A very, very small part of her wondered how hot the alien was and what would happen if she poked it with a stick.

Michelle just stared at the thing as it twitched a little on the ground and let out a small, exhausted groan. She didn't think that anything could ever make her stop looking at it. A thousand questions ran through her head. How did it get here? Where did it come from? What did it want?

"You were at my house?" she heard Ben ask.

Michelle heard it and could only stare at him. "What kind of quest-?" Michelle started to ask, but the words froze in her throat when she saw the look on his face. He was terrified, and so was Gwen. She heard Gwen take quick little breaths as she brought her hand up to point at the alien.

She'd didn't know Ben all that well, but she knew plenty of boys like him. Cocky, snarky and bit obnoxious on top of it all. Except when he was around Gwen, then he was ten times worse - she would have hated him so much for her friend's sake if Gwen wasn't just as snarky right back, and if the two didn't glow the whole time they were together – There was no way he'd ever sound scared, or look freaked. His ego wouldn't let him. He'd either go quiet or crack jokes.

There weren't any jokes now and he wasn't quiet.

She barely knew Ben, but she knew Gwen. Michelle had seen Gwen laugh so hard that she fell over and so depressed that the girl barely said a word. She'd seen that and everything in between, but unless there were spiders involved she'd never seen Gwen like this. Even with the spiders Gwen just backed up some. She dealt; she didn't freak.

She was freaking now. She was freaking so bad that her hand shook. Just seeing them act like this made Michelle take a nervous step back because she didn't get it. They'd charged across the field to see something that could have exploded in their faces without a second thought. Instead they find an alien who looked as threatening as her uncle did after Thanksgiving and NOW they were scared?

They should have been thrilled. They were meeting a real alien. How cool was that?

"My parents... They were home. What did you do to them?" The fear in Ben's voice changed into anger as he brought his fists up.

His parents? Why would an alien care? None of it made any sense. Michelle heard Gwen suck in a breath and spun her head around to face him. At least she started to, but her head whipped back and a blue globe of light flashed around Gwen's outstretched hand.

Michelle froze and stared at the glowing ball. Little flashes of lightning shot from the skin of Gwen's fingers to the edge of the sphere. It should have been so beyond cool, but seeing it made every hair on Michelle's neck stand straight up.

"What did you do to them!" Ben screamed.

Michelle jumped back at the sudden shout and tripped over her own two feet. She hit the ground hard enough that it was going to hurt tomorrow, but she barely noticed the pain right then. She hugged herself as she stared at her best friend. She thought she knew everything about Gwen.

God, she knew that Gwen was crushing on Ben – cousin or no – before Gwen did. She knew about it when it was still all looks and confusion and denial. She thought she knew everything, but the girl never once mentioned that she was a walking Lite-Brite.

"Please. I have to find Mr. Tennyson," the alien said.

Or that her family knew aliens. Michelle's eyes went to its face, but it was just more rock surrounded by fire. Somehow it still managed to look afraid. Afraid of her friends.

The thing was fire and rock. It was basically a nightmare all on its own, and it was afraid of Gwen and Ben. She felt her fingers dig into her elbows. More freakishness. Gwen was the opposite of scary. People who didn't know her kept away and she could freeze someone with a glare, but that didn't mean she was scary. Just Crazy. Once you got past that she was the fluffy puppy of scary. Even her best evil eye usually just made Michelle smirk and roll her eyes.

And Ben wished he was scary. He at least tried, but she'd seen him around Gwen too much to ever be afraid of him. He was a lot scarier before she saw how he was around Gwen. Once he started bringing her food without being asked his bad boy rep was done. She couldn't imagine anyone ever being scared of the two of them.

Until now.

"How..." No. How was the wrong question. The wrong one to start with anyway. "Why does an alien know your Grandpa's name?"

The alien looked at her. "I-I'm not an alien. My name's Alan. Alan Albright. I don't know what happened to me. I just- My dad said that I have to find Mr. Tennyson." His voice rose a little at the last, and Michelle wondered how many times he's repeated those words to himself.

All three of them looked over at the woods. No, at the RV park on the other side of the woods. The direction he'd come from. She expected to see smoke, but there wasn't any. He'd overshot.

"What did you do?" Ben asked. "He's right over those trees. The ones you just flew over."

"Nothing!" Alan said as he scrambled to his feet. He raised his hands and shook his head so fast the Michelle had to blink away the blurred after image. "He wasn't – I didn't!" He tried to back away, but a blue dome appeared around him. Alan looked at the dome like he'd never seen anything like it before. Michelle was glad that it was new to someone. Neither Ben or Gwen paid any attention to it. "He wasn't there! I stopped and checked and he wasn't! I was going to wait, but..." he looked back and shook his head.

"He's supposed to be there," Gwen said. The dome was the same color as the light around Gwen's hand. Michelle stared at it and thought she'd seen it somewhere before. Not that she could remember where. "Did he surprise you? Is that why you were running away?"

"Bet Grandpa Max kicked your rocky butt," Ben said as he tried way too hard to sound tough.

"No!" Alan said. The fire that made up his body burned brighter in his panic as he pressed against the dome. "No! Dad works with him! He told me to find Mr. Tennyson! He said to get help!"

There was another quick glance between Ben and Gwen. Michelle could usually read Gwen, but not this time. Gwen tightened her hand and the dome shrank just a little. Alan whimpered as she asked, "What were they called?"

"Plumbers," Alan said, his voice was high.

Michelle remembered Gwen's grandpa from the couple of times she'd met him. He was a big guy. It was always kind of hard to see him fitting under a sink, but she could see him being a plumber when he was younger. She'd seen him with enough grease on his hands to know he wasn't afraid of a mess. Him, but the burning thing in front of her?

"Was he a spare water heater?" Michelle asked before she realized how horrible it sounded. She shoved her hands over her mouth and could taste the dirt on them, but it was too late.

The fire that covered the alien's body burst back to life as he jumped to his feet and screamed, "He's a hero! He protects people. He – he..." Michelle covered her face to block out the wave of heat. The wave broke as the shouts became a soft sound.

Sounds. Michelle peaked through her fingers and saw the alien had his face hidden in his hands.

"It's okay," Gwen said in the same calm tone she used when she was tutoring. She looked so surprised when the words left her mouth, but she seemed to relax just a little after they did. A moment later the blue sphere vanished. "Its okay. She didn't mean anything by it. Michelle just says stuff sometimes. She's good, though."

Alan glanced around before his head fell and the fires died back down. "He came home yesterday. He said they did it. They beat the bad guys. He even brought me a piece of their ship. He said he would be home until..."

"Until Christmas?" Ben asked. He let his hands drop to his sides as he knelt.

Alan nodded and there was another burst of flame from his head.. "I thought... We were planning a vacation for Christmas Break last night when..."

Michelle hugged herself tighter as she stared at the alien and then at her two friends. They didn't even react to – well, any of it. They were acting like this was normal. Like talking to aliens was no big. How could anyone think this was normal unless...

Her mind wouldn't let her finish the thought. It wouldn't because Gwen would have told her.

If Gwen trusted her at all, she would have told her.

And she didn't.

Michelle felt like she just wanted to scream or curl up in a ball for a while. Instead she made herself listen because they were her friends and they might still need her. Someone had to be the sane one. Not that sanity seemed to fit in anywhere now.

"...there was another explosion and Mom and Dad came running into my bedroom... I've never seen Dad scared. Not like that," Alan was saying.

Gwen started to reach out to touch the alien's shoulder before she caught herself. "How did you get away?"

"How did you get the Omnitrix?" Ben asked at almost the same time. The two looked at each other for a second.

"The what?" The alien asked.

"The watch," Ben said, as if that made any sense. Michelle's eyes darted down to the alien's wrist, but there wasn't any watch there. The thing didn't even have pockets. It just had the weird disc set into its shoulder. Michelle stared at the green pattern on it and the design made something in the back of her head itch again.

That and the blue dome thingy. She could have sworn she'd seen both before...

Alan glanced at the disk on his shoulder. "Dad had it in a case. He looked at me and mom for a second before he opened it. Mom just... she just took his gun and went to the door while he pulled out this watch thing. He put it on my wrist and it snapped shut. It hurt. I don't know why, but it did. He hit the face and there was this bright flash of green light. I didn't even..." He held his hands in front of him. "I didn't even notice I was on fire at first. He just told me to fly. To find Mr. Tennyson. He pointed to the window and I just...

"I just left them there."

No one said a word for a long time. There was nothing that could be said. She wished she could have given Alan a hug though. Finally he said, "He wasn't even there. I flew all day and Mr. Tennyson wasn't even there."

"All day?" Ben muttered as he glanced at the disk. He reached out like he wanted to touch it. No, like he wanted to take it. His hand twitched for a moment before he let his arm fall back to his side.

"He should be home. He said he would be," Gwen said. She was still worried, but she wasn't freaked. Not anymore. "How did you even know where he was?"

Alan didn't answer. He just reached up and tapped the disk with his hand. "Distance to Plumber Tennyson, 2319 feet south, southeast."

"That's new," Gwen said.

That's new? There was an old?

Ben shrugged and tried to act like he didn't care, but he was scowling way too much. "That's nothing. Let me know when I can watch TV on it."

Gwen shook her head and elbowed him. "Just what you need. Another way to watch TV."

Michelle had heard the two argue like this every time she spent time with them. The first time she'd met Ben she'd exploded at him because she didn't know any better. She'd seen it so often that watching it now finally made everything else feel insane. "You're still fighting? How are you- Why are you acting like any of this is NORMAL? You're talking to an ALIEN! He knows your GRANDPA! You – your hand GLOWS! Why aren't you freaking? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU TWO?"

Ben and Gwen spun around. Michelle knew just from the looks on their faces and the way that the two glanced at each other that they'd forgotten that she was there.

Her best friend...

"Not an alien," Alan repeated as he kicked a rock. Michelle was sure that if he had pockets he would have shoved his hands in them to go along with his pout.

"So are." Michelle started giggling. "Alan the alien," she gasped out between laughs. She saw Ben crack a smile while Gwen just stared at her before she closed her eyes. Her hands went to her stomach, but she couldn't stop laughing. She laughed until she fell down on her knees and her face was wet with tears.

She felt someone try to hug her. "Michelle?" Gwen asked in a soft voice.

Michelle shoved her back. Gwen's arms pinwheeled for a second before she landed on her butt. "DON'T!" The laughs stopped the second Gwen touched her, but she could still feel herself crying. Ben was standing behind Gwen and he wouldn't even look at her while the alien just looked lost.

More lost. He'd looked lost from the second he landed.

"I – We're just – We're just as shocked as-" Gwen tried to say.

"Don't lie to me!" Michelle said as she kicked away from Gwen. "Don't you think I know it when you lie?" She'd seen Gwen lie so many times over the last few months that she could see it on her face. She'd helped Gwen lie just because she wanted her friends to be happy.

She just never thought that Gwen would lie to her.

Or do it right to her face.

Gwen closed her eyes and hugged her knees to her chest. "I have to."

"Why?" Michelle said as she waved her hand back to the clearing.

"I-" Gwen started to say before she caught herself. Michelle could almost see her trying to think of a lie. "My Granpda – He- we." Gwen's just looked at her as the words babbled out before she ducked her head. "I can't tell you."

"Why not? You can't TRUST me? After everything...?" And that was it. Michelle got up and glared down at her 'friend.'

She heard Gwen say in a broken, sad voice, "Of course I do. I want to tell you, I just can't."

Michelle stared down and felt her hand twitch with the need to reach out. She wanted to stay, to find out why she wasn't trustworthy, but she wanted to get away more. After everything she'd done for Gwen, for both of them...

She turned around and started walking back to the mall. She could call her mom and get a ride home from there. Call her and go home and think.

"Michelle!" Gwen shouted behind her a minute later. There was a rustle of grass that must have been from Gwen getting up and chasing after her.

Michelle spun around. "Leave me alone!" she shouted at Gwen. Gwen looked like it would have hurt less if she'd been slapped, but she didn't stop. Michelle shook her head and turned away before she started apologizing. Before she somehow started to think it was her fault. "Just-"

Then she was on the ground. Her side ached from where Gwen had hit her. "You karated me," she said in a little gasp as she stared at Gwen in disbelief. Gwen looked back, her eyes worried all over again as she gave Michelle a quick hug, Michelle stared at her. "If you want to talk that bad-" she said before Gwen shoved a hand over her mouth.

Gwen pulled her hand away when Michelle stopped talking and mouthed the words, 'Trust me. Please.'

Michelle really did almost laugh at that. Like she was the one who was lying. Instead she nodded. Because no matter what else, Gwen was still Crazy. She trusted Crazy.

More than Crazy trusted her anyway.

Gwen brushed her hand over Michelle's as she got up in a crouch and vanished into the grass. It was only thigh high and Gwen was wearing a blue dress, but she still managed to vanish from view after a few steps. Michelle laid there for a second and tried to figure out what was going on, but she couldn't even hear anything. The boys were quiet. Everything was quiet.

"Spread out," a man said from somewhere to Michelle's right. He sounded like he was a long way off, but there was no way to know without looking.

Michelle's hands shook as she pushed herself up. Every voice in her head told her to stay down, but she had to see what was going on. She expected something huge. One alien freaked out Ben and Gwen, but they didn't try to hide from it. She could only imagine how impressive the thing out there now was. She pictured a huge green thing that was all muscles and rage.

It was four police officers.

Michelle almost felt disappointed as she watched them walk out of the woods in a loose line. Their eyes scanned the field. So did Michelle, but she didn't see anyone else. There was smoke coming from a half a dozen spots, but that was the only thing out-of-place. The cops headed right for them.

The alien. They were looking for the alien.

Michelle thought about how scared her friends had been. Maybe they were right to freak. Maybe Alan really did do something. Maybe that wasn't even its name. Maybe he'd lied about everything, including not finding Ben and Gwen's Grandpa.

Maybe he'd...

Michelle swallowed hard and stood up. Two of the cops pointed their guns at her as she raised her hands. The officers twitched, but neither fired. They just looked her over for a second before they got annoyed and lowered their guns. One came running over. He was tall and skinny and had a face that was way too much of both to ever be anything but ugly. Not that the mustache helped anything. "Get out of here, kid. There's a dangerous alien in the area."

"H-how do you know he's dangerous?" she asked after she swallowed hard as she eyed his gun. A real gun. And he was really ready to use it.

"He just torched an old man's RV," the cop said.

Michelle swallowed hard even though her mouth was so dry it hurt. "Was it Mr. Tennyson's?" she asked as she looked over at the woods. She tried to spot the smoke, but the sky was clear.

"You know Tennyson?" the officer said. His voice was so low that Michelle's eyes spun back to him. He had the gun pointed right at her.

"H-he's my friend's Grandpa," she heard herself say as she stared at the gun.

"Take her for questioning," the next cop in line said, "and bring me the abomination. It's exhausted and it didn't go far."

Michelle saw the cops finger twitch, but she didn't even have time to flinch or scream. Her eyes were wide open when a blue wall appeared between them. She never heard the gun go off. There was just a hissing sound that lasted a second as the wall pulsed with light. There was another rustle in the grass and Ben burst out. He had a stick in his hand that looked like a twisted baseball bat and he swung it at the cop even as the man brought his gun around.

It was a race and Ben won. The stick hit and there was an explosion of sparks. Then the cop vanished and something else took his place. Something with green skin and what looked like an octopus for a head. Its face was hidden behind a sparking white mask, and that was fine with Michelle. The thing rocked on its feet, but it didn't fall.

"Weirdsick," Ben muttered as he hit it again with the stick. This time the stick shattered even as the monster fell over. It didn't try to do anything now. Ben looked at it for a second before he turned and rushed past Michelle. His hand brushed against her back as he gave her a small shove and said, "Stay down!"

Instead she spun around to follow him as he raced across the field again. Gwen was taking on all three cops at once now. Michelle had watched Gwen at karate practices before. She moved so fast then that Michelle could barely follow what was going on, but she knew when to cheer. It was always after Gwen kicked someone's butt.

Gwen was still kicking butt, but now she moved even faster and she hit harder. Michelle watched and realized that Gwen was always holding back at karate. She'd always been so careful not to hurt anyone.

Gwen didn't worry about that now. She spun around one cop as she kicked another and brought up her hand at the third. There was a crack of thunder as she blasted the last one in the face with a bolt of lightning. There was another flash as the cop disappeared and a green and purple monster took his place. The thing dropped to its knee.

The cops were all monsters. Michelle blinked and whispered, "Mom was right." She thought her mom was just mad about the speeding ticket, but now she knew she had to apologize.

The first cop spun around to follow Gwen while the second swung at her. She ducked the second, but she didn't pay any attention to the first. She didn't have to, Ben was there. He kicked the gun out of the cop's hand.

Michelle stared and kept waiting for Ben to start blasting lightning, too, but he didn't. He just kicked butt. They both did. They did it without even thinking about it. They moved too fast for Michelle to even follow them. They would both be fighting a different cop, and then they would switch. Ben ducked while Gwen kicked the cop he'd been fighting right in the head while he kicked the legs out from under the one she'd been dealing with.

Both cops fell. Both jumped right back to their feet and charged back into the fight.

Michelle stared at them and could have sworn that her friends were smiling again. They were enjoying this. She always laughed when her father said Gwen should be in the army because she couldn't imagine her friend ever hurting anyone.

She didn't know them at all. She wanted to run and hide, but she couldn't stop staring. That was the only reason that she saw the monster that Gwen had zapped get back up. It ripped the blackened mask off its face and Michelle really, really wished he hadn't as she stared at the one eye it had in the middle of its face. It snarled as it watched the fight and bent over.

It was getting its gun. Ben and Gwen weren't even looking at it. They didn't know, and they were too far away now. If it got the gun, it could just pick them off.

Michelle dropped to her knees and felt along the ground for the pistol the alien next to her must have dropped. It seemed like it took forever before she felt it lying in the grass. She scooped it up and froze. The gun she'd seen had been a Glock. She'd fired one like it a dozen times with her father at the firing range. It was their way of bonding, and it made him feel a little better to know that she knew how to shoot. She was good at it, too. She could hit the center of a target at a hundred feet.

The alien was only 75. An easy shot.

Except this wasn't a Glock. It looked like one when the alien was holding it. Now it didn't. It so didn't. It was still gun shaped, but it looked smoother and more streamlined. It didn't even have a hole at the end of the barrel for the bullet. It felt like plastic, but it was way heavier than it looked. Her finger brushed against a little slide on the side that must have done something, but she had no idea what. The slide was all the way down and she thought about moving it back up, but she didn't want to mess with it.

The only thing she recognized was the trigger.

She got up and got into the stance her father had taught her when he first taught her to shoot. She aimed at the alien, who was just starting to stand up back up. It had its gun - which looked just like hers now, too - and it wasn't even looking at her. All she had to do was pull the trigger.

It was a simple point and click interface. She tried to remember where she heard the joke, but she couldn't. Just like she couldn't make her finger move.

The monster aimed into the crowd and she knew it didn't care if it hit its own. He was just going to shoot until everyone was...

She aimed and fired.

And missed so bad that she didn't even hit the ground. Barns would have felt safe around her. She saw the alien duck, but that was it. She tried to shoot again, but her hands wouldn't stop shaking. She screamed at herself to make them stop, but they only shook worse. It seemed like just a second had passed when a hand touched hers and Michelle screamed. She yanked on the trigger and the gun fired into the ground.

"Michelle!" Gwen screamed in her ear. Michelle turned her head she could stare at her friend and Gwen stared right back. "Are you okay?" she asked as her green eyes searched Michelle's face. Michelle nodded once even though her whole body felt numb. Gwen put her hand on the barrel of the gun. "It's okay! We got them, thanks to you. Give me the gun."

"Crazy?" Michelle asked. She tried to pull the gun free, but then she just let it slip out of her numb hands.

"You have no idea," Gwen said with a small smile as she carefully wiped the gun off with her dress before she put it down. "You kicked butt."

Michelle tried to smile. She really did. Instead she buried her face in Gwen's shoulder just before she started crying. Gwen hugged her as tight as she could and whispered, "Its okay," over and over as she rubbed the back of Michelle's head.

Then she felt Ben's hand on her back and for just a second it didn't matter that they didn't trust her, that they lied to her. Michelle just held on and sobbed, "I want to go home."


	7. Chapter 7: Hero Time

Authors notes: I want to thank Hapcelion for beta reading this. If there are any mistakes they are all mine. I also want to thank him for setting up a tropes page for Little Moments. You can find the link on my profile. It looks awesome, go check it out.

Chapter 7: Hero Time

"I can take care of it," Gwen said. She felt like she was four again with a scraped knee as she sat there on the edge of Aunt Sandra's bed. She had her sweatpants leg hiked up over her knee as her aunt bandaged a cut on her left shin. It wasn't even that bad, just two or three inches. She didn't even feel it until they got back to Ben's house. She reached down to try to take the bandage, but she got her hand slapped away.

"I've got it," Aunt Sandy said as she worked. She'd been in full mom mode since she, Ben and Michelle got back to Ben's house. Gwen sighed and gave up. It was exactly like it was when she was four. She had the sneaking suspicion that she could be forty and her aunt would act the exact same way.

Aunt Sandra finished taping the bandage in place and gave Gwen another quick look over before she nodded. "Honestly, Gwen. You should know better than to take one of Ben's shortcuts. I haven't seen you two this messy since you two decided to dig up my garden."

"We were five! And we weren't digging it up, we were trying to help you plant," Gwen said with a pout. They managed to dig one hole when Ben decided that it would be hysterical to throw a handful of dirt down the back of her blouse. Things went downhill from there.

"You helped so much that I had to hose you both off." Her aunt smiled just a little as she eased the pants leg back down so it wouldn't catch on the bandage.

"It was time for Ben's bath anyway," Gwen said. Between the old stories and the babying she really should have rolling her eyes. She felt the urge, but she couldn't. She spent the last couple of hours terrified that they would get back here and find...

For the briefest of seconds Gwen pictured Ben's home burning and her aunt and uncle...

Gwen leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her Aunt. She could live with being babied a little as long as it meant her aunt was here to do it. Just as long as there wasn't an actual baby talk, anyway. If that happened she was so out of there.

"Is everything okay?" Her aunt asked as she hugged Gwen back.

"I just wanted to thank you."

"You're welcome, Honey. You know I don't mind. Either the helping or the hug," Aunt Sandra rubbed Gwen's back. She laughed a little under her breath. "It must be that kind of day. Your friend latched on pretty good, too, after I got her cleaned up."

"Michelle?" Gwen asked with a guilty worry. Michelle was not a hugger. The last she'd seen of her friend was when Aunt Sandy had hustled them both upstairs to get cleaned up. Gwen, because it looked like she'd been rolling around in the dirt - lousy dress - and Michelle, because her face was a mess after all the crying. "How is she?"

"She's lying down in the spare room," Aunt Sandra said. She was quiet for a second. "Did something happen? She said it was just allergies, but... If you two are fighting, I can help, or at least listen. You know you can tell me anything."

Gwen closed her eyes hid her face in her aunt's shoulder. Michelle was still covering for her. Even after everything that happened, she still was. And she so wanted to take her aunt up on the offer. Gwen could feel the babble starting in the back of her throat as everything tried to spill out. About what happened to Michelle, about Alan, about Grandpa, the aliens. Even the truth of how she felt about Ben.

Instead she whispered, "No. Just allergies."

"Okay. I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay," Aunt Sandra said as she pulled away and stood up. "I tried to give her some medicine, but she wouldn't take any. She's almost as bad as you are when you're sick. No wonder you like her."

She glanced at Gwen for a moment, and Gwen didn't even flinch. Three years ago she would have. All it would have taken was a look and she would have spilled everything. If she tried to lie she'd crack after only a few seconds. Not anymore though. She dug her fingers into her knee and tried to remember that it was a good thing.

If Aunt Sandra noticed the sudden quiet, she didn't give any sign. She didn't even lose her train of thought as she closed up the kit. "I just wish she was feeling better. I know you're going to miss her when Carl takes her home after dinner."

"Just her?" Gwen asked in surprise. She'd figured that she'd have to go, too. She was sure that she was going to spend the night on the phone with Ben as they tried to figure everything out. Not that she hated talking to Ben on the phone. So not. It was just so much easier to work this stuff out in person.

"You can go, too, if you want," Aunt Sandra said in surprise. Gwen could have sworn she sounded disappointed, too, "but I know you and Ben had the whole night planned. I figured I would run you home later. Or..." she let the word drag out as she scratched at her arm and her face went a bit red. When she started talking again the words came out in a rush. "You can have a sleep over if you want. Just as long as your parents say its okay and you both follow the rules."

Gwen's only answer was to jump up and give her aunt another hug. "Uncle Carl's okay with it?" She'd barely been able to visit for a few hours without being watched. She couldn't believe that she could spend the night.

"I'll... He will be," Aunt Sandra said after the hug ended. She brushed her hand through Gwen's hair and gave Gwen a kiss on the forehead. "Just behave."

Gwen nodded and bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from grinning too much. "We will. Well, I will. You know how Ben is."

Aunt Sandra didn't say a word to that. She just grabbed the first aid kit and hurried into the bathroom to put it away. She was in there for a while. Long enough that Gwen started to worry that she'd acted a little too excited. She was about to go from regular worry to stomach turning worry when her aunt came back out with Gwen's blue dress in her arms. "What kind of shortcut was it? This dress is a mess. I think it's done. It's cute, but it's done."

Gwen whimpered a little as she nodded. She loved the dress, but it was not made for kicking butt. She didn't even know how bad she'd messed it up during the fight until she took it off. She'd nearly pulled apart some of the seams. If the fight had gone on just a little bit longer it would have...

And right in front of Ben. Her mind went blank at the thought of it.

It only kicked back in when her aunt said, "You and Ben were pretty dressed up tonight. Did Max start a dress code for dinner and not tell us?"

"I just wanted to look nice," Gwen said as she blushed. She couldn't help it no matter how much she screamed at herself to stop. At least she managed to keep meeting her Aunt's eyes. She didn't want to, but she knew she was done if she looked anywhere else.

"For Grandpa?" Aunt Sandra asked as her eyes darted away.

"For me," Gwen said finally as she felt a bead of sweat inch slip down her back. "I've got to look good."

"You did," Aunt Sandra said with a nod as she studied the dress before she handed it over. "And I'm glad that Ben's started to care about what he looks like, too. For some reason."

"Finally," Gwen said as she hugged the dress to her chest. Her body itched with the need to fidget, but she wouldn't let herself.

Gwen didn't react at all, but she would have sworn that Aunt Sandra's eyes glittered before she turned to the door. "I wasn't planning on making dinner tonight, but I can make soup and sandwiches for everyone. I think Ben's in his room if you want to let him know." There was a pause. "Just keep the door open."

Gwen nodded and swallowed hard as she watched her aunt open the door. She should just stay quiet now and let the woman walk away. It was the smart thing to do, but she couldn't. "Did Uncle Carl have any luck finding Grandpa?" He'd got on the phone almost as soon as she and Ben were through the door. First to try to call Grandpa like they never thought of that, and then to call all of Grandpa's favorite places.

"No, he hasn't tracked down Max yet. The second he does your Grandpa is in for it. I can't believe he just took off without telling you and Ben. I don't know what's going through that man's head anymore." Her aunt didn't even raise her voice, but by the end her eyes had narrowed into a glare.

Gwen stared at her with wide and worried eyes. "Uncle Carl couldn't find anything?"

Aunt Sandra sighed and closed her eyes. Ten seconds later she opened them again and the anger was a little better hidden. She even looked a little bit worried. "The guys down at the specialty supermarket didn't see him today, but the bait shop he goes to said he was there this morning."

Gwen nodded and relaxed just a little. At least he'd still been in town today. She'd guessed as much when they went to the Rust Bucket after the fight and saw the table set for four, but you could never tell with Grandpa. She wished they had time to really look around, but between Michelle and the aliens they couldn't risk it. All they had time to do was make sure that he wasn't there and that his Plumber's suit was gone. He was either in trouble or out looking for it. They wouldn't know which until they found him. She had an idea how. All she needed was her-

"Wait, he was at the bait shop?" Gwen asked in a sudden horror.

"The man there said Max picked up a full mix of worms and squid. You kids might have gotten off lucky tonight."

"He wouldn't!" Gwen groaned and hid her face in her hands. "He PROMISED that tonight's dinner would be normal. That he wouldn't scare off Michelle."

"I know he did, Honey," Aunt Sandy said with a laugh, "but you know what your Grandpa thinks is normal food."

"He wouldn't!" Gwen whimpered. Michelle would have ended up hating her even if the aliens hadn't shown up. One normal meal. She knew he could manage one.

"It's not all bad. Just think about how much better my cooking will seem now!"

"You're cooking's..." Gwen tried to say fine, but even she wasn't that good of a liar, "better than Grandpa's."

"Ouch," Aunt Sandy slapped her hands over her heart. "I'll remember that when I pour your soup."

"I didn't mean it like that!" Gwen said as her aunt walked away. She followed after her and her socks slipped a little on the wood floor. That wasn't why she walked so slowly, though. Her steps slowed until she stopped in front of the guest room.

She stared at the door for a long moment before she glanced over her shoulder at Ben's. The door was closed, but she could see the light on underneath it and she could hear him moving around inside. She should go and talk to him. They had to figure out what to do about Grandpa and Alan and the aliens, or if they should do anything at all.

Michelle needed time to cool off anyway. A day or two. Things would be better if she just waited a couple of days.

Or a couple of months.

She'd let things fall apart with Ben for two months over the summer as she waited for things to get better. Two months where she didn't talk to him or see him. Two months of guilt. She couldn't do that again. Not to her or Michelle. Especially not to Michelle, not after everything she'd done today.

She couldn't screw up the same way twice.

It didn't make opening the door any easier. She brought up her hand to knock and it shook in the air for a long time before she forced it to move. She knocked twice and opened the door a little. "Michelle?"

No one answered. She took a deep breath and slipped inside as she closed the door behind her. There was a small nightlight in the corner of the room, but she didn't need it. She'd been in the room so often she knew where everything was even in the dark. She saw Michelle lying on the bed and curled up on her side under the covers. Her long black hair was spread out over the white pillows behind her. "Michelle?"

Michelle didn't even twitch.

Gwen sat down on the edge of the bed. She tucked her foot under her knee as she kicked the other back and forth in the air. She listened for a moment, but she didn't hear any sign of snoring or crying. Michelle just laid there. "Michelle?" she asked for a third time in a whisper. She reached out, but just before she could touch Michelle's shoulder the girl pulled away.

Gwen's vision went blurry as she pulled her hand back. "I-" she started. That was as far as she got before she choked. She had spent the whole walk home trying to figure out what to say. What she could say. She'd planned it all out, the apology and explanation. It was everything she' d wanted to tell Michelle when her friend started yelling, but it was just too much to think about all at once.

Now she had it all planned out, or she did. Except her mind went blank the second it mattered. Again.

"I'm sorry," she finally started. She fidgeted with her hands as the words spilled out. "I know it's not enough, but I am. I never wanted to lie to you. I tried so hard not to, but I just couldn't tell you about this. I owe you so much. And it isn't because I don't trust you. Of course I trust you. You're my best friend. You're the best one I've ever had. There are so many things I wish I could tell you about, but I just can't. If it was just about me, or me and Ben, I would. I would in a heartbeat and so would he, but it isn't. Its bigger than just us."

She stopped and hugged her arms around her stomach as she hoped for some reaction. Even screaming would be better than this. Instead Michelle just laid there without saying a word. She'd never heard Michelle be so quiet.

Michelle and quiet. Gwen couldn't even imagine those two words in the same sentence. Michelle always had something to say. Always. Little whispered asides or shouts across the room and everything in between. And when she couldn't talk, like during tests, she tapped her pencil or hummed until Gwen threw something at her. Then she'd just grin and start humming a different song.

Gwen couldn't get Michelle to be quiet. At best she could make her change stations.

Until now.

If it wasn't for the soft sniffling sounds coming from that side of the bed she might have thought that her friend was asleep. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry. If you want to talk, or just to scream at me you can. You know you can. Any time." She reached over again and put her hand on Michelle's arm. This time she didn't flinch away, but she didn't do anything else either.

Still, she didn't flinch. Maybe tomorrow she'd say something. Even if it hurt worse tomorrow, Gwen would still try. She'd try until Michelle at least told her to stop. "I'm sorry," she said again as stood up. "Aunt Sandra is making soup for dinner if you want some. Uncle Carl said he'd take you home right after."

She turned and walked to the door. She grabbed the door knob when she heard Michelle ask, "Do they know?" Her voice sounded so rough and broken from the crying it had to hurt to say anything.

"No. Thank you for not telling them," she said as she hung her head. "Neither do mine."

"Figured that. Why?" Michelle's voice was so thick then that Gwen knew she was crying again.

Gwen wanted to ignore the question and just hug her again, but Michelle sounded ready to bolt. "Because they'd freak. Because it would be too dangerous. For us. For them. For you. And for other people neither of us have ever even met."

This time Michelle moved just a little as she nodded. Gwen moved forward a little more. "Ben's mom is letting me spend the night. You can, too if you want. I can't tell you everything, but..."

"I just want to go home," Michelle whispered as she curled up into a tighter ball.

"Okay." Gwen waited for Michelle to say anything else, but she didn't. "You're my best friend, and I'm so sorry," she repeated before she left the room.

Tomorrow. She thought as she turned to press her head against the door. She'd try again tomorrow and she's keep trying until Michelle either gave her a chance or told her to stop. But that was tomorrow. Right now she had to...

Her head hurt and all she wanted to do was curl up somewhere until dinner. And maybe even after. Her stomach was empty but she didn't feel the least bit hungry. She crossed the hall into Ben's room. They couldn't snuggle anymore, but maybe he could just give her a hug and sit next to her until dinner. Maybe they could even hold hands.

It wasn't as good, but they made do.

She crossed the hall and slipped inside of Ben's room. She turned around to close the door behind her. Not all the way. Uncle Carl and Aunt Sandra had ears like a bat when it came to the click of the door closing. She'd swear that they didn't even have to be in the house. If they were anywhere in a five-mile radius they could hear that click and come running. And that would be it for even the smallest bit of privacy. But they'd learned. If they left the door just a little bit open they'd be okay.

A bit open and the lights on.

She wanted to turn the light off, but it wasn't worth the fight. She turned and saw him sitting at the head of his bed. he hadn't even changed yet. He had his back against the wall as he sat there with his legs crisscrossed. He wasn't even looking at her, he was staring at his bedspread. "Ben?" she asked as she walked over to sit on the bed next to him.

She didn't see the mess on the floor until she kicked the first bit of it. She looked down and saw the pile of stuff lying on the floor next to his bed. The pile of stuff and the three shoe boxes. Two of them were lying on their sides, empty, while the third sat open.

She recognized all the stuff in the pile the moment she saw it. It was bits of busted alien tech, a rock from Mount Rushmore, some old gold coins and a ton of other stuff that looked like junk. It was all the stuff he'd collected during their knelt down and picked up the a small token he'd taken from an underwater motel. "What did you do?"

He didn't even look up. "How's Michelle?" he asked. He sounded as distracted now as he did when she tried to talk to him while he was watching professional wrestling.

She stared at him and then looked at the little mementos. "She's freaked and mad at me. So mad . I just wish- I wish I could tell her everything."

Ben didn't say a word to that. He didn't even glance at her. He just nodded and looked so distracted.

"Ben, what's wrong? Why did you...? This is all your good stuff. You love this stuff."

He didn't answer. She looked at him and he was just frowning more. "I know you're mad at Grandpa for taking the Omnitrix, but..."

"Not."

She shook her head as she ran her hand though the souvenirs. He just dumped the stuff out like it was trash. Like it didn't matter at all. She stared at the one box that was still full and wondered what he decided to save. She pulled it over and looked inside. She saw his karate belts. They were neatly stacked to one side. His gold Sumo-Slammer card was on top of the belts. It was the one Grandpa gave him a couple of Christmas' ago and she'd gotten signed last year. Next to it was his MVP medal and soccer championship trophy. She brushed her hands over them. "Why'd you put these away? You only got them yesterday! You should have them displayed! I'm surprised your dad didn't-"

"Dad wanted to make me a shelf for all of it, but I don't-"

She shook her head as she went through the box. "Aren't you proud? You kicked butt to earn this stuff. You should be so proud. Don't you care?"

"Of course I do," Ben said, and he finally sounded like he was paying attention. "That's why it's in the box. If I didn't I would have just shoved it all into the closet."

"You don't have to hide this stuff," she said as she stared at everything. He needed a trophy case. She'd get him a case for Christmas and she'd help him organize it. Maybe she'd see if Dad would help her build one. Dad or Uncle Carl. "You don't have to hide everything."

Even as she said the words she saw something hidden at the bottom of the box. It looked like a shiny piece of paper. She moved the trophy and pulled it out. It was an upside down photograph. She picked it up and turned it over and put her hand over her mouth. It was from Halloween. It was the two of them kissing at the end of the slow dance. It looked so ridiculous with him dressed as the Kangaroo Commando and her as Lucky Girl, but it was her favorite one ever because it was the only one they had of them not pretending. She didn't even know that Michelle had a camera until her friend gave them both copies a week later.

Gwen knew that they couldn't have them even as she took hers. They were both in costume, but their parents knew who they went as and if they found it they'd be in so much trouble. Ben's mom might not search his room, but her parents did sometimes. Usually after they'd seen something on the news. If they found this...

She knew she should get rid of hers, but she couldn't. So she hid it as best she could. It was hidden in the back of her karate belt case. She had to take the thing apart just to look at it but it was worth it.

"I'm not hiding it," he said. She looked up and saw him staring back at her. "I'm not. I know where it is and so do you. It doesn't matter that... We know where it is."

"Doofus," she said in a whisper as she put the photo back and brushed the back of her hand across her eyes. She wanted to go up and sit with him, but she couldn't just leave the stuff just sitting there. He'd step on something, or his mom would just throw it all out because it would just look like junk to her.

She looked at a crystal that Tetrax had shot at them when they first met him – the first alien they ever met – and wondered how anyone could think that this stuff was junk. She grabbed an empty shoebox and started putting everything back. "What's going through that head of yours, Doofus?"

"I'm just thinking."

"You?"

"I only slack off to make you look better."

"As if," she said. She saw his mouth open for the next volley, but she shook her head. "Ben?"

Ben leaned back against the wall again and stared down at his bedspread. He stared for a while before he sighed. "I was just thinking about Alan. He should have let me help,"

"I know he should have." Gwen hurried up putting everything away. One hug before things got worse. That's all she wanted, and she knew that he needed one. He'd never say so, but she knew it.

Well, one hug and a chance to smack Grandpa for stealing the Omnitrix and doing this to Ben. She'd never been mad at him before, but she was now. She couldn't even figure out why he'd done it. Ben would have given him the watch if he'd just asked.

"I could have helped him with his watch," Ben said after a moment. "Gotten him unstuck."

"You do have experience at fixing the watch," Gwen said with a nod, "Usually because you're the one who messed it up."

"They're easy to fix. Hitting them usually works," Ben murmured. "If he'd stayed I could have shown him how to be Heatblast. He didn't even know he could shoot fire out of his hands. How can you be a Heatblast and not know you can blast heat? He should have stayed."

"You did the best you could, Ben," she said as she put the last bit away. "I heard ask him to."

They'd been in such a rush after the fight. Between getting Michelle calmed down, trying to figure out what to do with Alan and stopping by the Rust Bucket she could barely remember any of it, but she remembered Ben telling Alan that. Alan left just as the first police officer showed up. The officer chased him just long enough for them to get away. That was the first policeman, but not the last. Three more police cars passed them on the walk home.

"He didn't even listen."

"He was freaked."

Ben nodded and looked even more miserable. "Of us."

"By us? Why would he be-?" Gwen froze as she was putting the last few bits away. She turned and stared at him. "He was freaked by the aliens and worried about his parents. That's why he left. It didn't have anything to do with us. Grandpa wasn't there and he had to do something. He said he'd come back if he needed us."

Ben just shrugged.

"You did everything you could." She stood up and looked at him. He looked so serious as he sat there, his brow wrinkled in thought. She hated it when he looked this serious. All he needed was a beard and he'd... Not if she could help it. "I might have a way to find Grandpa, but I don't know how we'll get to him. All I know is that you get to be the sidekick this time."

"Won't." He smirked just a little as she sat down on the bed across from him. She sat so close that her knees brushed against his every time either of them moved.

"So will. You can kick butt, but I'm the one with the powers this..."

The words died in his mouth as he held out his right hand. He had it tucked to his side this whole time and she'd never seen what it was holding. She recognized it as soon as she saw it; the black and gray metal band, the two small white tubes that ran along the outside of the band like an X were all familiar, but it was the black and green hourglass shape on the front that held her attention.

"How?"

The Omnitrix.

He had the Omnitrix.

"How?" she repeated the question in a whisper. "Alan had..."

It was gone. It should be gone.

She'd seen it on Alan's shoulder as he flew off. Alan was going to be the hero now, not Ben. She'd watched it fly away and the only thing she'd thought was that Ben was finally safe.

"It was in the box," Ben said as his finger traced the band. "I had to check. I dumped them all out because I couldn't remember which one I'd put it in and that was the quickest -" he stopped and looked at her. "I was going to wait for you, but Mom had dragged you off to get cleaned up and I know how long you can take in the shower."

"Not that long."

"Forever," Ben said. He should be smirking at her and she should be pretending to be annoyed with him, but they were both staring at the watch. "Grandpa never took it."

"How does Alan-?"

"Don't know."

She shook her head. "There are two?"

"Looks like," he said. He didn't sound like he was being smart as he said it. He sounded just as confused as she felt. Two Omnitrixes? Why would Azmuth make another? From everything Ben said the Gray Matter thought the first one was a mistake.

Two?

Ben nodded as he kept tracing the band with his right index finger. "Now what?"

She stared at the watch. "If - if you put that on all the craziness will come back," Gwen said. She'd gotten used to normal. She kind of liked that the only thing she had to worry about was trying to find time to sneak off with her boyfriend.

Except... except he didn't have the watch on and things were going crazy.

"I know."

"Grandpa always said he'd let us know if he needed us."

"He's missing."

"He's not here," Gwen corrected as her heart pounded in her chest and she rubbed her forehead. "We don't know if he's in trouble."

Ben didn't say anything to that. He turned the watch over and stared at the face. The green pattern was there, but it was darker now with the watch turned off. "Other people are. Alan and his parents. And those beyond ugly aliens are nosing around."

Gwen slid closer to him. So close that their knees were pressed together. She wanted normal, but she knew today would happen sooner or later. She was so close to him now that she could smell the grass and sweat on him. For just a second she was back in the field again. At the start she'd been terrified that he would get hurt, that she wouldn't be able to protect him. She watched him the whole time just in case he needed help.

For the first time she understood just how much he looked out for her before she learned the magic. And how much he must have worried even if he never showed it. She scooted up and grabbed his hand away from the Omnitrix to give it a squeeze. He squeezed back.

She'd worried for the whole time, but it felt so right to be fighting again. To have him at her back. She watched him move out of the corner of her eye and it was a blur. The two were back to back for most of it, but she always knew he was where she needed him to be. It was like a dance between them. And when they'd beaten the last one, the one Michelle shot at, she stared at him as he grinned and sucked in air and she'd just wanted to...

Her eyes darted away from him before she could finish that thought. Her heart was pounding just as hard now as it was then and she knew that if she finished that thought she would never be able to look him in the eyes again. She never should have read those romance novels last year. Horrible things.

She shook her head. "You kept practicing, didn't you? The karate?"

"Since the day I quit."

She shook her head and tried to take deep breaths without him noticing. She wanted to have a normal life without the lies and secrets just as much as she wanted to be out there heroing with him. No wonder Michelle called her Crazy. "You should have told me. I would have helped you."

"I know," Ben said as he hand went back to the watch. It was like he couldn't help himself. "But that would have been fighting. What I did was just practice."

"You fought today," she said as she watched him. His face was blank now. "How did it..."

"Like I never stopped." He didn't even stop to think before he answered. She launched herself across the bed and hugged him as hard as she could. He laughed into her shoulder. "Guess I should have stayed in karate after all."

"I go out and practice my magic as much as I can, too," she admitted as she held him. "There's a clearing in the woods behind my house that's way bigger now."

"It was never over, was it?"

She dropped back on her butt and stared at the watch. "It could be. We don't have to - You don't have to."

He stared and shook his head. "I think... I think there are a lot of people out there who could really use our help."

She nodded and felt so relieved and sad at the same time. "Then we better go help them."

Ben nodded and scratched at his left forearm. The second he did he looked down at it and smiled. "Finally got it tanned and everything, too." She took his arm in hers and ran her hand across the spot on his forearm where the Omnitrix used to sit - was going to sit. He shivered just a little at the touch. "Still a little sensitive though. I'm going forget what it feels like to have something besides the Omnitrix on my arm."

"Are you?" she asked. She stared at his arm and she could feel the pulse in his wrist under her fingers. He didn't fight her, but he looked beyond confused. Then she leaned down and pressed her lips against his forearm. Right where the dial of the Omnitrix used to be - was going to be. She held them there until her lips tingled from the pressure. When she pulled away her cheeks felt warm and she grinned at him. "There. Try to forget that."

Ben stared at her with huge eyes and he didn't seem to be breathing at all. Then he launched himself across the bed at her. She jumped back in surprise and felt the mattress at her back before she realized that he's followed after her. Then his lips were on hers and his hand was cradling the back of her head as their legs tangled together. She didn't fight him at all. She just wrapped her arms around him and pulled him tighter to her.

It was one last moment of normal and it didn't last long enough. She whimpered a little when he pulled away. He looked down at her as he smirked and whispered, "There. Try to forget that."

"Always have to outdo me," she murmured at him as she pushed herself back up. She tried to sound mad, but it was impossible to do when she couldn't even make herself stop smiling.

He brushed his hand over the spot she'd kissed one more time before he picked up the watch. His eyes never left hers, not even when he turned the dial. She heard the alien technology start beeping as he pressed it against his arm. "Hero time."


	8. Chapter 8: Questions

Authors notes: I want to thank Hapcelion for beta reading this. If there are any mistakes they are all mine. I also want to thank him for setting up a tropes page for Little Moments. You can find the link on my profile. It looks awesome, go check it out.

Chapter 8: Questions

It had only been five months since they'd stopped going hero, but there was so much that Gwen had forgotten. Not about fighting, or the magic. Those were both still good.

No, she'd forgotten how spooky everything was at two in the morning. Even with a full moon hanging overhead, the world was still all shadows. Both in the trees behind her and the RV park in front of her. There should have been lights on, she kept thinking as she stared at the homes. She knew that it was late, but someone should have been up reading, or watching TV. Instead all of the RVs were dark. She could have sworn that she saw the blinds move in some of the windows and she tried not to imagine that there were people in there staring back out at her.

She tried not to think it, but she pressed herself a little closer to the tree she was hiding behind anyway.

The police car that was parked at the entrance of the RV park was the only real source of light that she could see. Its lights were on, but the strobing red and blue didn't do anything to make things less creepy. Neither did the officer she'd watched pass by a couple of minutes ago. He'd shined his flashlight into the trees, but she hid long before he got to her.

Not that she wanted to hide. She glared at him as he walked by and wondered if he was wearing a mask, too. If he was another alien like the one who tried to shoot Michelle. Every time the flashlight went by she saw the flash of the laser and her hands shook. She'd barely gotten the shield up in time.

Another second.

Another half second.

No wonder Michelle was terrified. No wonder she barely even wanted to talk. Gwen wanted to fix things. She wanted to so much, but now that she was staring at the officer she wondered...

No.

Not now. Gwen couldn't worry about that now. Not with Grandpa missing. Not with Ben out there somewhere looking around while she waited with the heavy guns just in case something went wrong. It was an old plan that they'd used a dozen times before.

She'd forgotten how much she hated it, though, how she hated every second he was out of her sight. She'd hated nearly seven minutes worth of seconds so far she thought as the Omnitrix timer in her head counted down. She hadn't seen him at all since he circled the Rust Bucket twice with his nose pressed against the ground. She thought she heard him run by a couple of times, but he was always gone when she turned to look.

Also creepy. Insanely creepy.

She shivered and it was only a little because of the wind. It was supposed to be warm for another week, but she could feel the chill now. Winter was coming. She tugged at the hood of her borrowed jacket, but it wouldn't stretch far enough to warm up her nose, so she pulled the collar up. She could tell that it was Ben's soccer jacket the second she buried her nose in it. It was just this side of stinky, but it was warm enough that she didn't care.

It didn't even bother her that it smelled of sweat and grass. It should have. She knew that. It should have been gross, but it wasn't. The smell made her feel even warmer than the coat did and she had no idea why. She knew she liked it, though, and that she missed the scent when she pulled her face back out.

Nine minutes now. The Omnitrix timer in her head beeped a warning. She looked over the park for any sign of Ben. She listened with all she had for the smallest noise; a growl, a shot, a scream.

A whimper of pain.

Nothing.

She pressed her hands to her mouth and muttered, "Come on, Doofus. Don't make me rescue your sorry butt."

She listened with all she had, and she still barely heard the dry leaves behind her rustle. She spun around with her hands out. Her left traced the patterns for a shield while her right got ready to call up a tornado.

The thing that pounced at her was huge. It must have been three times bigger and heavier than her. She saw teeth and claws even as she jumped to the side. The monster hit the ground next to her in an explosion of dried leaves. She was just about to blast it when the blue magic that surrounded her hands shined on the monster. One with orange fur and no eyes that looked like a huge alien dog. It looked at her and let out a burst of little barking laughs just as a second explosion filled the woods.

An explosion of bright red light.

"Doofus!" Gwen said, her voice an angry hiss of a whisper as she swung her hand out and caught Ben on the shoulder with her palm. "You scared me half to death! I thought you were – What's the matter with you!" She kept smacking him the whole time she yelled.

"Sorry. Sorry," Ben said. He tried to sound sincere, she knew that he did, but she could hear the laugh slipping out of him.

"Sorry?" Gwen sputtered. "You're going to be-" she started as she brought her hand back up for another smack.

He caught her hand in mid-air. She tried to pull it free, but his grip was too strong. Well, that's what she told herself. She knew that if she really wanted to she could pull her hand free. Unless he didn't want her to. If it came to that it would be a mess of Kung fu fighting that she knew they couldn't do right now.

No matter how much he deserved it.

"I am," he said. This time he didn't even try to fight the laugh as he tugged her closer and his other hand circled her waist. "But I couldn't NOT do that."

She gave him a little disgusted sniff. She gave her hand another half-hearted yank before she settled for turning her face away from him. He went hero for the first time in months and all he could think about was scaring her? "You could have TRIED."

"What fun would that be?" He wanted to kiss her. She knew it. She could hear it in his voice. He wanted a victory kiss, but she didn't give him a chance. He could suck on her hoodie for all she cared. He didn't. Instead his fingers brushed against her hip and she still shivered. "You know you loved it."

"Jerk," she mumbled.

"So loved it," Ben said. He could tease her all night, he'd done it before, but they had heroing to do. She was just about to remind him when he bent down and scooped something up off of the ground. He stood back up and gave her hand a tug. "Come on, Grandpa's RV is clear."

"So you do remember why we snuck out," Gwen said in a grumble as they slipped out of the woods and hurried across the grass.

* * *

"They smelled human," Ben insisted as he stared at Gwen and sighed. Her face wasn't the least bit red anymore. It was still a little when they got in, but it faded the second he started talking about what Wildmutt found. He wished he could have seen her face when he pounced out at her. That would have been something. He hadn't gotten her like that in months and he missed it.

He missed it almost as much as he missed going hero.

Or having her sit next to him. She sat on the other side of the kitchen booth from him with her hoodie pulled back and her red hair spilling out in a mess. She had her hands bunched up in fists around the sleeves and her brow creased in thought. She studied his face with bloodshot eyes. Ben saw those eyes and yawned. It had been way too long since the last time he'd been awake this late.

He had to be the only hero on Earth who had to wait for his parents to go to bed before he could save the day.

"Stop that," she mumbled as she fought her own yawn. A fight she lost. She shook her head. "You're sure?"

"Wildmutt was. I followed their trail twice out there and they smelled human the whole time. At least until you zapped that," he said and nodded down at the white mask on the table. There was a huge scorch mark right between the eyes from where Gwen's lightning had hit it. "The cops must have missed it when they were cleaning up."

Gwen picked up the mask and looked at it. She brushed her fingers over the burned part and showed her teeth just a little in a savage grin. She flipped the mask over and stared at the thousands of little lines that covered the back, most of which were burned black. "What did they smell like after?"

Ben shrugged. "Take a sniff."

The look she gave him was just short of a glare, but she ducked her head down anyway. The looked she gave him when she yanked her head back was definitely a glare. "You could have just said they smelled like rotten squid. I know how that smells. Hurray for me."

Ben smirked. "Why should I have all the fun? Besides, at least you didn't have to carry that thing around in your mouth." He gagged a little at the taste. Not the memory, either. He still tasted it. "Grandpa better have mouthwash."

"Brushing your teeth twice in the same night? It must be bad."

"Same night?" Ben asked. "Try same week. At least I'll be able to skip next week's." Gwen's lips thinned to a line. "What? You never complained before..."

Her hand went to her mouth and she looked a bit green. "You are so gross." She covered her mouth with her sleeve and made a show of scrubbing her lips with his jacket's sleeve.

"Too late," Ben said. "My cooties aren't going anywhere."

"Disgusting," she muttered, but she was smiling just behind her arm. Then the smile faded. "Did they get Grandpa?" she asked in a whisper as she ducked her head down a little and he could have sworn he saw her sniffing the sleeve of his jacket and he rolled his eyes.

He warned her not to take his soccer jacket. He knew what it smelled like, but no. Sure, he knew she wanted a hoodie to hide her hair, but they could have found something else. She should have listened.

She never did, though. And watching her sniff the jacket now just bugged him.

It bugged him way more than it should have.

"No. Grandpa was gone before they got here," Ben said and he had to fight not to stare at her nose. Gwen closed her eyes slumped a little in relief. "He left and he was mad." He closed his eyes and remembered the trail that Grandpa had left. "His scent trail ended only a few feet from the Rust Bucket's side door, but I could smell the motor oil and the exhaust of a car. Grandpa must have loaded it up with something, and he took four or five trips to do it."

Gwen started looking around, and so did he. The new Rust Bucket was almost bare compared to the old one. It should have been easy to figure out what was gone, but they barely spent any time here. Gwen shook her head and looked so lost. "At least we know he got away before the four aliens got here."

"There were only three aliens when they got here," Ben said.

Gwen spun her head back around so fast that it must have hurt so she could stare at him. "What? How do you..."

"They all smelled different. Like people, but different people. I followed the trail they left when they walked into the park. The three of them didn't come up to the Rust Bucket, but they circled it a few times before they stopped-" Ben paused as he looked out the big side window and tried to remember which of the other RV's they'd stopped at. They all looked alike in the dark to him, and he could barely remember all the twists and turns he'd made in the ten minutes he'd spent wandering around. If he could just go out there and sniff them...

He would just look crazy now.

Finally he pointed at one of the RV's that he would have barely been able to see if the moon wasn't reflecting off of its windows. Windows that all faced the Rust Bucket II. "That one, I think. Three aliens went in there and four came out after Alan showed up."

Gwen's eyes went wide as she looked at the RV. "They've been here all along?" she whispered. He could see the magic spark around her hands as she got ready for a fight.

"I don't think so," Ben said, but he could almost see the monsters gathering around them. "Their scent... I smelled something like the stink in the mask on them when they showed up, and the RV stunk like it after. It stank of that and like someone inside was scared."

Whoever the man was he was beyond scared, but Gwen didn't need to know that. Wildmutt took one sniff and just started whimpering as his every instinct said to run away. Ben had to make himself stay there and keep sniffing, but his claws dug at the ground the entire time.

Gwen started to get up. Her eyes were still wide, but now... "They might have hurt someone! We have to..."

He caught her hand and it was still cold from the night air. "Its empty. All the scents are cold."

She looked at him and her eyes welled up as she squeezed on his hand. "They...?"

"No," Ben said in a small voice. He knew what she meant and he didn't need to hear the word out loud. Or for her to say it. "I know what that smells like. It's just empty. I don't know what they did."

She stood there for a second and just stared out the window, her green eyes shining. He didn't let go of her hand, though. Not even when she sank back down into her seat. He just wished he'd pulled her over to his instead, but that was distracting. Way too distracting.

She sat there for a long time as her eyes went from the window to the mask at the table. "I don't... I don't even know where to start," she said in a pained voice. She looked around and sighed. "Grandpa was the one who - He must have... I'm going to check the back. Can you check out here?"

Ben shook his head as he looked around. He couldn't stop the shiver that went up his back, but he could ignore it. "I'm going to make another run in case I missed something." He shoved himself to his feet and turned for the side door.

He almost made it before he felt her hand on his arm. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I just want to make sure I didn't miss anything." Ben didn't turn around. He didn't want to see the look in her eyes that he knew was there. "Besides, I remember when you would have jumped at the chance to get away from me."

"Ben."

That's all it took. A word. She didn't even have the decency to make it seem like she was mad. It was easier to ignore her when she was mad. He looked around. The RV almost looked like the Rust Bucket. The seats were in the same place, and the table, but...

But the walls were the wrong color. "It doesn't smell right," Ben said as he looked around. Nothing about the place was right.

Gwen let out a worried little noise. "You think they were here?"

"No," Ben said with a shake of his head. "It... The Rust – Grandpa's RV doesn't feel like home anymore." It didn't even smell like home. He'd circled it twice as Wildmutt to try to find some little bit that smelled like the old Rust Bucket, but he couldn't. Even Grandpa smelled wrong. Worried. Tired.

"This was... It was the only place that ever did. The only place I belonged, you know? I remember walking over after school just to get away from everyone. I helped Grandpa rebuild the engine on this... on that table. And I almost made annoying you an Olympic sport in it."

"So did," Gwen said with a bit of a laugh.

The whole Rust Bucket was one big memory and he never even thought about it until it was gone. He looked around the new one and he kept thinking 'I annoyed Gwen there, played checkers with Grandpa there, argued with, talked to, sat with, tried to figure out the watch and watched Gwen puzzle over her magic books over there.'

All the best things.

He glanced over her shoulder at the back room and remembered seeing her standing there in the doorway in her blue dress and just smiling at him while he stood in front of her all dressed up. It was the first time he even imagined that there might be more...

And now it was all gone.

Maybe if Grandpa got an RV that looked completely different it would be easier, but this one was too close. It was so close it made the differences worse. Ben only stopped by four times in the months since Grandpa bought the RV and it wasn't just because Grandpa was gone all the time.

"This isn't home and I just..." The last time he'd seen his home it was lying on its side and smoking. His last memory of it was wondering if Gwen and Grandpa were both...

He waited for Gwen to make fun of him. It was stupid, he knew it. It was just a place. A big car, basically. His parents had gone through half a dozen cars since he'd been born and he didn't care about any of them. He waited for her to say he was being stupid because he knew he was.

Instead she stood up and put her arms around him. A part of him still wanted to shove her away. More wanted to pretend that none of this bothered him at all and laugh at her for thinking that it did. If she was anyone else he would have done just that.

But she was Gwen.

"I miss it, too." She put her head on his shoulder and sniffed just a little. "I miss it, too, Doofus. I know it's not the same, but... but that doesn't mean it can't be good. Maybe after we find Grandpa and kick butt the three of us can go somewhere. Get it ready for next summer."

"The mountains?" It was the first thing that came to mind. They never got to see snow. Not real snow anyway. Bellwood just got cold and wet in the winter. Not snowy. The only time he ever saw it was when his parents went skiing and it wasn't anywhere near as much fun with them.

"We'll go during winter break and have the biggest snowball fight ever."

"And I'll kick your butt," he said as he laughed as his lips found hers. "Just have to kick bad guy butt first."

"And find Grandpa," Gwen said. "There's something I need for a spell, but I can help you look out here first."

He shook his head. "Nah. I'll be good."

Her lips found his one more time. Cherry, he thought just before she pulled away. He watched her as she slipped away and walked to the back. He didn't move until she vanished from sight. Then he went to the side door. He knew what he said, but he wanted out.

But Grandpa needed him. And Gwen. He sighed and started searching.

It took him twenty minutes to find anything. Not the secret compartments themselves. No, those were easy. He and Gwen spent hours trying to find them all after they found out they existed in the best treasure hunt ever. They were all in pretty much the same place in the new RV, too. He found them, but they were empty.

Except for the last one he checked, of course. The one hidden behind the clock. There was a small disk hiding inside. He picked it up and it fit right in the palm of his hand. He'd never seen the disk before, but he knew the symbol on the front. He should, this was the third time he'd seen it today. It was the same green and black hourglass symbol that was on the Omnitrix. "This is the gold Sumo Slammer card all over again. One of a kind my butt."

He stared at the symbol and knew he should be careful. That it could do anything if he tapped it; explode, change him into something, start playing Pong. "I should do the smart thing," he said to himself.

He tapped the symbol instead.

At first the disk didn't do a thing. Then it hummed to life as the symbol started to glow. He thought he saw a flash of light, but it was gone before he could even blink. "Authorized User detected," it said in a woman's voice. "Benjamin Tennyson. One message waiting. Play, yes/no?"

Ben stared and he felt the word yes on his tongue. Except it might explode after he played it. He knew it happened. TV said so. He went to the back first. "Gwen? Got some-" the words died in his mouth as he stared.

And not at the mess he found.

Well, a little at the mess. After all the years of Gwen complaining about him being a slob, it was always fun for him to see the messes she could leave behind. She'd torn apart the back room apart. The closet door was open and so was the panel hidden in the back of the closet that hid all sorts of Plumber tech in little niches.

All of which were empty.

After she found that she'd gone through every drawer in the room and spilled everything she found out all over the floor. Grandpa's clothes, pieces of paper, small pieces of stuff that looked a lot like the souvenirs Ben had kept over the years. He could understand digging through that stuff, but not-

"Don't think about it," he heard Gwen mumble to herself as she dug through the last drawer of the dresser. She had no idea he was there. He knew that if she did... She was on her knees and her arms were reaching in as deep as she could. "Thinking about it means mental scars and therapy. Just ignore and repress."

Ben shook his head as she shoved more white things out of the dresser. "Um, Gwen. I want to find Grandpa Max, too, but... What kind of clue do you think you'll find in his underwear drawer?"

"And hello therapy," Gwen muttered as she hung her head and slapped at the und – clothes. Just clothes. "I'm not looking for a clue-"

"That does not make me feel any better."

"Not making this an easier."

"You know you're going to have to wash your hands before I let you touch me again, right? And that's me saying that."

"We both did laundry on our trips and its all clean. I don't know why you're acting so grossed out by this." She tried to sound so dignified as she said it, but he saw her shudder just a little.

"Do I want to know what you're looking for, or should I just start poking my eyes out now?"

"Something for a location spell."

"In his drawers?"

She banged her head on the dresser and sounded miserable. "It has to be something personal."

"His...? Magic is gross."

"Not that!"

"Sure," Ben said, and he drew out the word just to make things worse.

"I'm going to hit you. You know that."

"Not until you wash your hands."

"Did you find something, or did you just want to bug me?"

"Can't it be both?" he asked as he walked up and showed her the disk. "It has a message." He didn't even have to ask if she wanted to see it, she spun around so fast that her hair whipped around. He tapped the screen and there was another almost flash of light.

"Authorized users detected. Benjamin Tennyson and Gwendolyn Tennyson. One message waiting. Play, yes/no?"

"Yes," Ben said. He expected a voice message. Instead the top of the disk shimmered and a foot tall Grandpa Max appeared over it. If he wasn't so short and see through Ben would have thought his Grandpa just beamed into the room. He looked almost the same as always, except his hair was a bit grayer when Ben saw him at the soccer game a couple of days ago.

How was it just a couple of days? It seemed like months.

"Ben, Gwen. If you two found this then you're either snooping around again or you're looking for me." He paused for a second and his eyes sparkled. "If you're snooping, you aren't going to find any snacks back here. There might be some in the cupboard if you look close enough." He sighed. "If you're not then you should know that there's renewed alien activity on Earth. Its nothing you have to worry about. We're dealing with it."

The hologram blinked out for a second. "That's-" Ben started to complain when the hologram came back on.

"Oh, and Ben. You don't have to worry about the Omnitrix either. I have it and its completely safe. I put it somewhere no one will ever find it."

There was another blink, but this time no one said a word. A moment later he came back. Now Grandpa was rubbing the back of his head and he looked older. "I might have to go away for a while. I'll be back, but I just wanted you both to know that I'm proud of you. And that I'm glad that you've found..." - he paused and looked around as if he just realized that he didn't know who might be watching - "Take care of each other. I love you both. Max out."

The hologram vanished. Ben waited for it to come back. It didn't. "Message end. Repeat?"

"He's in trouble," Gwen said.

"He knows I have the watch," Ben said as he nodded and his mind raced. He tapped the disk. "He wanted... if someone found this he wanted them looking for him instead of us. Me."

"The aliens?"

Ben nodded again as he slipped the disk into his pocket of his jeans. There might be more. He wasn't as big a computer geek as Gwen, but he would find it if there was. And if he couldn't he knew Greymatter or Upgrade could. Gwen looked at him and almost said something before she turned back to the drawer and started digging again.

He moved up to help, but before he could her eyes lit up. She yanked her hand back and there was a small box in her palm. A box covered in a blue velvet. A scorched blue velvet. "I thought - when I couldn't find it - I thought they were lost with the old Rustbucket," Gwen whispered as she brushed her finger across the box.

"What is it?"

"I found them when I was seven," Gwen said in a whisper as she flipped the box open. Something glittered inside. Two somethings. Ben stared at the gold for a moment before he figured it out.

Rings.

One was a plan gold ring that looked like it would fit on Ben's thumb. The other was smaller and just as plain except for a couple of small diamonds at the top. "I thought they were so pretty. Grandpa found me playing with them and he looked so mad for a second. His whole face turned red. I saw him and I just jumped. The rings didn't fit at all and they went flying and I freaked because I thought I lost him and he already looked so mad. Then he just started laughing as he picked me up so we could find them. "

Ben rubbed the back of his head and had the odd need to back away as he stared at the rings in her hand. "Are those...?"

"Grandpa's wedding ring and Grandma's engagement."

"Grandpa doesn't wear rings. He doesn't do bling at all."

Gwen brushed her hand over the bigger ring and her voice sounded hollow. "Not anymore." Her hand moved over the smaller one and slipped it out so she could stare at it.

"Where's Grandma's..." Ben started to ask before he realized. "Oh."

Gwen nodded as she held the engagement ring. She almost slipped it on before she blushed and squirmed. She slipped it back in the box and pulled out the bigger ring. Ben should have said something to make her blush more, but he couldn't think of anything. His mind was blank. "I need something personal for the tracing spell. Something that means something to him. Something special," she babbled without looking at him.

Or Ben thought so anyway. He was too busy not looking at her to know for sure.

"I don't know why. I didn't back in-" her voice just stopped. "I don't know why, but it should work. Just give me a second," she said as she sat down on the floor. She carefully set the ring on the floor in front of her as she sat down and got in one of the meditative poses Sensei taught them. She pressed the flats of her feet together while her hands hung limp at her sides with her thumb and index finger pressed together.

Ben sat down across from her and listened to her breath in and out. He just crossed his legs, though. Meditation was never his thing. He watched her and wasn't the least bit surprised when he saw the ring start floating in a cloud of blue light. She opened her eyes, and they glowed a little, too. She looked almost at peace for a second.

And then she scowled. A second later a bead of sweat dropped down her face. The ring started spinning in midair as the light pulsed. Pulsed and vanished. Ben caught the ring out of the air just before it went flying, and it felt hot in his hand.

"Damn it!" Gwen shouted as she slammed her fists into the floor. "Why won't it work?"

Ben jumped more at the cursing than the hitting. He could count on one hand how many times she'd cussed in front of him. "Gwen?"

"I've tried ever since – It doesn't work like it did then. I don't know what I'm doing wrong! I shouldn't even need the ring! I didn't-"

"Gwen," Ben said and he reached out to touch her.

She slapped his hand away as she brought up her knees to scream into them. The second she stopped she took a deep breath. "The books. I need my books. If you go XLR8 we'll go get them and I'll figure it all out-"

"Tomorrow."

She shook her head. "I can do it tonight. I'll be fine. I'm not even tired."

She looked tired a half an hour ago. Now she looked ready to fall over even if she wouldn't admit it. She never would. So Ben yawned. He was going to fake it, but he didn't have to. "I am. Grandpa's okay. We can find him tomorrow. Besides, Mom and Dad will figure out we're not in bed soon."

"He's counting on me," Gwen said through her own yawn. Both of their yawns went on forever and she was rubbing her eyes before hers was through. "You're counting on me. I'll be fine."

"Grandpa would tell you to go to bed."

Gwen scowled. "Would not."

"So would." He shrugged. "But if you're not tired, neither am I. I'll stay up and work on the disk. Maybe there's something else in it."

"No. Go to-" She stopped and gave him a look before she nodded. "I need the ring." Ben held it out, but she shook her head. "No. I'd just... If I lost it I'd never-" She scratched at her neck and her face lightened just a little. He wondered why as she reached inside her coat and her blouse. Then she pulled out a thin gold chain. She kept pulling until the necklace came free, including the stone Keystone of Bezel at the bottom. The one he'd given her last year. She pinched the chain and nodded. "Here. It'll be safe on this."

He waited, but she didn't move. Finally he waved his hand at her. "Well, take it off."

"No." She gave him a shy look as she chewed on her bottom lip. "No. You put it on. You have to take it off."

"I put it on at Christmas. You haven't... Not since last Christmas?"

Gwen squirmed. "You put it on. That's how it works."

It should have been weird. Heck, it was weird, but...

Ben made sure he let out an annoyed sigh as he slipped behind her and reached for the little clasp on the back. His fingers brushed against her neck and she shivered just like she did when he put it on the first time. "Not even...?" He asked and he froze at the word shower. He froze and then he shoved the thought out of his head.

She didn't looked anywhere near him when she mumbled, "Its gold. It was fine."

Ben nodded because that was easier than figuring out girl logic. He slipped the ring on the chain and it clinked when it hit the stone at the bottom. He closed the necklace again without saying a word and she patted the ring and the stone with her hand.

"We'll find him tomorrow," Ben said as he brushed his finger against the nape of her neck again because she was ticklish there. He knew she was still thinking and that the only way to stop that was to distract her. "Either your way or mine."

She shivered again and it worked. The pinched thinking between her eyes look went away even if the worry didn't. "I know."

"Good," Ben said as he stood up. "Let's go to bed, then."

"Yeah," Gwen said as she took his hand and let him pull her up. She glanced at him as she yawned again and put her head on his shoulder. "I wish."

So did he.


End file.
